TFP White Energon III: True Light of White Decepticon
by AriaChronos
Summary: Sequel to TFP White Energon II : More than Just Blue and White. The Autobots were desperate to restore Optimus' memory and their teammate's future life. More revelations dawned afterward, Aria wasn't the only White Cybertronian alive on Earth. Soon, she will meet her equal. Rated T to be safe. I own nothing except my OCs.
1. The Ending Fate of the White

"_The fear of death follows from the fear of life. A man who lives fully is prepared to die at any time"_

_Mark Twain_

* * *

On board of Nemesis, Megatron was broadcasting all over his ship.

"_Attention, crew. Our guest is still in isolation to ease his transition. But when Orion Pax emerges, he is to be shown every courtesy._ _And the first to address him as Optimus Prime will have their voice box torn out,_" Megatron announced.

"Lord Megatron, is it wise to allow an Autobot, current or former, full run of the premises?" Airachnid questioned her leader's decision.

"Nothing happens aboard this ship without my knowledge. You would do well to remember that, Airachnid," Megatron replied, scaring Airachnid a bit. "But there's no need for concern. Orion does not possess the same fight Optimus is so renounced for."

"Then what use is he to our cause?" the spider bot asked again.

"Ah, rest assured. Orion Pax will indeed earn his stripes," Megatron promised.

Inside Knock Out's sick bay, Optimus was going through some change on his appearance. The red medic was replacing Optimus, or rather Orion's Autobot symbol...to a Decepticon symbol.

"Welcome back to the winning team," Knock Out smirked as he finished his work.

* * *

Aria was walking back to the base, when there was a conversation going on.

"Being a Decepticon is a choice, Agent Fowler. One that I have a hard time believing Optimus would make at any point in his life," Ratchet said.

"So if he's riding with the 'Cons..." Bulkhead started.

"It's because Megatron's working some kind of voodoo," Arcee finished.

"Orion Pax may not currently be an Autobot up here. But I must believe he will never stop being one in here," Ratchet turned around, and finally spotted the ponytail girl entering the base. "Aria..."

"Hey guys..." she forced herself for a fake smile, as everybody turned to see her. She didn't say anything more, just walking to Arcee's side. "Hey!" she was startled as Ratchet scanned her body. "I'm fine Ratchet, really!"

Ratchet checked over his scanner, and he was rather surprised to see that her white energon level was low. However, he just thought that it must be the side effect of releasing the Saint's power. He really hated it to see that girl in such state. "We must locate him, to know for certain."

"Hold up! I have a chip lodged in my behind that lets Uncle Sam know when I stop for doughnuts. Are you telling me you just can't track Prime?" Fowler asked.

"Optimus' signal has not reappeared since he embarked for the Earth's core," Ratchet answered as he showed him everyone's life signals to prove his point "But we must get to work finding him. If we have any hope of initiating his contingency plan."

"Contingency plan?" Arcee repeated in confusion.

"What contingency?" Bulkhead was confused.

"Is that even a word?" Miko and her vocabulary, well...

"The key card!" Jack took out the shining key from his pocket. "So what's it do?"

"It grants access to Vector Sigma. The repository of the Wisdom of the Primes," Ratchet answered.

"Is that some sort of supercomputer?" Raf asked.

"So we can just download Optimus' memories back into him? Great! Which one's the big V?" Jack asked as he glanced around at the computers "Over here? Somewhere in back?"

"Vector Sigma is more than a supercomputer, Jack. It is an ancient source of mystical power…on Cybertron," Ratchet declared, causing everyone to gasp and stare at him.

"On Cybertron?!" Jack gasped in disbelief.

"Yeah, it acted as repository, as well as the final resting place of Parthonus, called The Chamber of The Saint," the medic added.

"The final resting place...?" Aria asked.

"Yeah, it was written on the legend, that after the Saint, Parthonus-I mean, passed away, Primus made a memorial of her inside the Vector Sigma. There, her spirit was said to rest in peace, forever," Ratchet explained.

"Wow..." Aria even didn't have any idea of that.

* * *

On the Nemesis, Orion was free of his isolation, and he met up with Megatron.

"You have been a captive of the Autobots. However, the majority of the time, you were locked in stasis. You were their captive long enough for us to lead an exodus to another world," Megatron began explaining the make-up story.

"Exodus?" Orion repeated in disbelief. "Why?"

"Because of the warlord Ratchet's careless actions lead to this," Megatron answered, as he pressed a button to an image of Cybertron in ruin.

"Cybertron...!" Orion gasped in shock to the dark planet, and he was immediately being angered.

Megatron smirked without being noticed by Orion, he knew that it could work.

* * *

"Jackson William Darby, you will NOT be travelling to another planet!" June immediately protested.

"I'm in!" Miko said.

"Neither are you, Miko!" June asked. "Not when one of you can!" she turned to the Autobots.

"Well, I too, can do it," Aria shrugged.

"June's right. Why send a boy to do bot's job?" Fowler asked the same thing.

"Because only a Prime can access Vector Sigma. Or one chosen by a Prime. Optimus gave the key card to Jack. It is now imprinted with his own unique bio signature," Ratchet explained.

"So you're saying that Jack is some kind of honorary Prime?" Miko asked.

"Let's just say that Jack is the only one who can return Optimus to the Autobot," Ratchet replied.

"But why would Optimus willfully endanger a human? He's just a child!" June reminded them.

"I...I'm not a child mom!" Jack was aware that he was 18.

"Optimus believes there's more to Jack than meets the eye," Arcee answered.

"All of which is moot. The key card is useless without a means of reaching Cybertron…which we, at present, do not possess," Ratchet sighed sadly.

"Dude, what about that?" Miko asked as she pointed towards the GroundBridge portal.

"Miko, the GroundBridge barely got them into Earth's orbit, remember?" Rafael reminded her.

"Yeah. But Ratchet built it, can't he just...turbocharge the thing?" Miko shrugged, causing Ratchet to ponder on the idea.

Suddenly, they heard a loud bump and they found Aria collapsed on the floor.

"ARIA!" Arcee was alarmed, and she scooped the girl with her hands. "Hang on!" the younger girl was barely conscious, and her face was bit pale. "Ratchet!"

"I'm on it!" as a medic, Ratchet was trained to remained calm in emergency situation. "My laboratory!"

* * *

They all waited with anxiety, as Aria was laying on metal berth. Ratchet used his remote to transform Aria to Autobot mode, and proceeded to scan her.

"Ratch..." Aria regained half her consciousness.

"Save your strength Aria, I'm doing further examination on your system," the medic worked on his tools. Then after several scans, he received a spark attack. "By the Allspark...! This...can't be happening...!"

"What, what is it?" Arcee began to worry.

Ratchet was silent for few moments, his expression told the others that something really serious was going on. Even the medic didn't know how to start. "Never in my entire life and carrier as medic, I witnessed something like this..." his voice was shaky.

"Just tell us NOW!" Bulkhead demanded.

"Yeah, something wrong with Aria?!" Miko added. "Is she in bad health?"

"Worse..." Ratchet vented in frustration. "The worst of it. I still don't know if it was caused by using the legendary Saint's ability in such fragile body, however. Aria's natural ability to produce white energon, is in verge of failing. Soon or later, her system will eventually stop to produce white energon completely..."

"Shame it, we are about to lose our supply of medicine?" Bulkhead asked.

"Bulk!" Arcee snarled to the green bot.

_Is it that bad? _Bumblebee asked.

"Yeah, it's just white energon..." Rafael added.

"Aria is reverting from White to normal bot, what's so dangerous about it?" Jack, and everyone else, still didn't get the idea.

"No, it's not like what you think. Because of the fact that she is White Cybertronian, she needs white energon to stay alive, not energon like the rest of us," Ratchet finally gave the crucial point, and he was in glum moment. "That being said, when her system completely stops supplying white energon...Aria will..."

Ratchet didn't need to continue, as all of them finally got the point, and they had this very shocked expression. They weren't losing a supply of medicine, but a teammate, and friend.

"No...no way...!" even Miko couldn't continue her antics as she received the tragic news. One of her best friends was dying.

"Can't you do something about it?!" Arcee demanded.

"No...!" Ratchet shook his head regretfully. "This is just out of my capabilities..."

"On the contrary, this may be supposed to happen since the beginning," Aria spoke, as she sat straight up on the metal berth. "I can feel it, that Parthonus' power inside me died down, together with Unicron's demise."

"You...you already knew about this...yet you haven't told us from earlier?!" Ratchet was annoyed, even though he knew very well, Aria was the type of hiding her own problem from the others.

"I know yeah. But you also know that the Saint sacrificed her spark so Primus could defeat Unicron, right? I'm Parthonus' incarnation, and I inherit her white energon, and power, albeit briefly," Aria sighed. "It's only fair if I just followed her path."

"Her path?! You are _Aria, _you're supposed to follow _your path_!" Arcee intercepted angrily, she didn't get it, why her student just seemed not having problem by the fact that she was dying?

Aria didn't reply, as she stared at her lap. As a warrior, she didn't fear death. The girl was prepared to die at any time, but for the current moment, she wasn't. Because of one thing. "Ratch, how long do you think I have...?"

Ratchet hoped he didn't have to answer that. "A month, and a half, at most..." that statement made everybody gasped in shock, a month and a half? It was just way, way too short. And, there was nothing they could do for it.

Aria was also disappointed by her remaining time, not because of her lifespan was cut short. But, Optimus wasn't there. She highly doubt that she could have the chance, to see her father for the last time.

* * *

"I cannot believe Ratchet to be capable of such horrors!" Orion gasped in disbelief.

"Yes, and to think the Doctor of Doom's mad quest for power continues..." Megatron remarked, playing his part perfectly.

Orion wasn't over his shock, when his mind flashed through another thing. "My family...Elita, and our newborn daughter Arianna...! What happened to them Megatron?"

Megatron looked away 'regretfully'. "...That is the very last thing I want to reveal to you, old friend..."

"What? Are they still alive?!" Orion demanded, his spark filled with worry.

"Elita perished in the unstoppable war...and your daughter Arianna..." Megatron turned around. "Ratchet killed your daughter by his own hand."

"What...?!" Orion received his biggest horror. "Was that...really happening?"

"Even I still deny myself to believe the tragedy in front of my eyes, Orion. I owe my apology to you, my old friend," Megatron paced around, he kept his remorseful face in play. "My power was not enough, I tried to reach her. I knew how precious she was for you, but I was too late for it. It is my fault, that Arianna already met her end in her very tender age..."

"Arianna...Elita..." Orion finally collapsed to his knees. Knowing his spark mate was dead, and now his daughter was killed when she was just barely few cycles old, was too much for him. "Arianna...was still learning how to walk...the last time I remembered seeing her..."

"Orion..." the Decepticon tyrant helped Orion to stand up. "I am truly sorry...this failure is my shame for the rest of my life..."

"No, it is not your fault, Megatron..." Orion gritted his denta plates. "Ratchet...he will pay for this..."

"His birettas pursued us to this planet's orbit. We feel that its species aren't ready to behold us. But we have resolved to protect this world from the same tragedy which was dealt to our own," Megatron continued.

"One question, Megatron. Why are we called Decepticons?" Orion asked.

"Another graven Autobot scare tactic," Megatron replied. "The name was meant to demonize us. Instead, we wear it as a badge of honor. For if speaking the truth is deception, then we are gladly guilty. Now please, Orion, there will be plenty of time for catching up. You must rest."

"Megatron, I will do my part to stop Ratchet's unspeakable crimes of aggression, and his crime to my family..." Optimus swore as his hand clenched into a fist and his arm bent in his rage, "This I vow with all my spark."

Megatron smirked evilly, this was getting better and better.

* * *

"It seems we have successfully achieved control of Orion's spark. Now to put his mind to work," Megatron discussed in a private with Soundwave. "Soundwave, have you sanitized the data core?" earning a nod from the mute Decepticon.

"Excellent. Our new archivist will require unlimited access to our files," Megatron remarked.

* * *

I'll try to take my time for this sequel. Review please :D


	2. I miss you

_"It is better to have loved and lost, than never to have lost at all"_

_Samuel Butler_

* * *

_I always needed time on my own_

Time surely passed like wind, it was already half month since the Unicron incident, and Optimus Prime's departing from the Autobot teams. Those days were also proved to be stressful for them. They had absolutely no clue on how to locate Optimus' whereabouts, or a way to restore Aria's white energon. The last one however, seemed to be utterly impossible.

_"Who are they?"_

_"FATHER! NO!"_

_"_No!" Aria jerked up from her sleep, she panted heavily. "Another dream..." she murmured sadly. For half a month, the dream of Optimus leaving her, haunted the girl every night. "Father...just where are you now...?"

When Aria woke up first time in the morning, she didn't feel any better. Even after long rest, she still felt tired and heavy. Every day, she was getting weaker and weaker. She knew it, she didn't have much time left. Aria plopped her head back to the pillow, and sighed heavily.

_I never thought I need you there when I cry_

Much to everyone's surprise, Aria seemed to receive the news pretty well. But the girl wasn't alright at all. It wasn't the death that scared her, but the fact that her father was not on her side. Just when she needed Optimus' support most. Her worst fear was, she was going to die before she could see her father for the last time.

_And the days feel like years when I'm alone_

_And the bed where you lie is made up on your side_

"Aria, are you awake yet?" Arcee knocked on her door.

"Yes," Aria immediately stood up from her bed, and opened the door. "Miss Arcee, sorry, I overslept," she knew that it was already afternoon.

"It's okay...I just want to make sure you're fine," Arcee sighed in relief, worry was presented on her face. Aria was known for her habit of oversleeping, but since the Unicron's incident, that habit became worrying. Ratchet assumed that she slept much longer to compensate the loss of energy in her body. But, Arcee feared if the girl fell asleep...and wouldn't wake up forever. "Sorry to interrupt your rest, if you're still sleepy, just go back to bed."

"Well, but I don't feel like sleeping...I want to go to command center," Aria brushed her ponytail, before made her way to the command center. Then, Arcee scooped her up. "Whoa...Miss Arcee, I can walk by myself."

"My service, just don't push yourself," Arcee said as she carried the ponytail to command center. The blue motorcycle didn't want her student to spend anymore of her limited energy. But, she couldn't hide her worry, Aria was even more paler than the days before.

As they approached command center, Ratchet immediately set his eyes to the girl. "Aria, you're awake?"

"Hey Ratch," Aria smiled as she met with the medic.

"Stay still," Ratchet immediately scanned the girl, and as he examined it, his face was very disappointed.

But, Aria didn't need the medic to explain it, she already knew it. "So Ratchet, any sign of my father yet...?" she asked.

Ratchet shook his head regretfully.

"Rest assure, we're gonna find him, fast," Arcee said with a smile, although she was deeply concerned. The older femme placed the girl on the couch area, before turning to Ratchet. "Ratchet, how is she?"

"No better, her white energon level doesn't show any sign of recovery..." Ratchet still believed that miracle would happen, but it seemed to be mere imagination. "It decreased again, instead."

Arcee felt her spark beating even faster in worry. "This...really makes me feel like a scrap, Ratchet," Arcee said with low voice. "I just realized on how much we owed her, ever since she first arrived here."

"I do know that Arcee, she was very helpful in here," Ratchet commented. "Aria was the only one who wanted to study Cybertronian medic from me, and I couldn't count how many times I relied on her help, relied her on my side."

"Not only you, we all always relied on her. Aria always gave away her white energon for us, without hesitating..." Arcee began to raise her voice. "But, when her life is in danger, we can't do a single thing to save her life!" she cried out.

Aria jerked up from the couch as she heard the scream of Arcee. She could hardly tell what they were talking about, as her processor was bit fuzzy. But, from the sign of it, she knew that they were talking about her. The ponytail sighed, she hated to be worried over. Quietly, she leapt off the platform, and headed to the hallway.

* * *

_When you walk away I count the steps that you take_

_Do you see how much I need you right now?_

She could hear her own footsteps echoed in the very quiet hallway. Aria missed greatly of hearing the heavy footsteps of Optimus. When a mech as big as Optimus walked, the sound was like a monster stomping around. But for Aria, it was a sound of joy, the sound of her father's presence. The ponytail arrived at the front of Optimus' quarter. She remembered, when she really wanted to see Optimus, she would knock on the door, and there would be answer from inside.

_"My dear, just come in."_

After Optimus let her come in, he would scoop her and placed her in his lap. Then, Aria would start begging her father to tell a story, whatever story that the Prime might have.

But, there wouldn't be anyone answering from behind that door. There was no one inside that quarter.

_When you're gone_

_The pieces of my heart are missing you_

_When you're gone_

_The face I came to know is missing too_

Aria placed her hand on the metal door. The ponytail girl knew that she could open the Autobot size door easily, but she didn't want to do it. She just couldn't. If Aria opened the door, she would find the room empty. And that fact, hurt her to the core. The room was empty, Optimus wasn't inside. She wouldn't find her father inside, or hearing his voice answering through the door. A tear rolling down her eyes.

She really missed all of those things, that reminded her of her father's presence. She missed her father's footsteps, voice, and all of those moments of them being together.

_When you're gone the words I need to hear_

_To always get me through the day and make it OK_

_I miss you..._

"Aria."

The girl turned around to see Arcee was already there. Her mentor followed her after she was missing from command center all of the sudden. "Miss Arcee...?" Aria hurriedly swept away her tears. She really didn't want anyone to see her crying.

Arcee didn't need to ask why she was crying. "I know, it must be hard for you," the blue femme knelt down and touched the ponytail's face with her finger. "We all miss him..."

_I never felt this way before_

_Everything that I do, reminds me of you_

"He's...everything to me," without realizing it, Aria's mouth started to move all by itself. "He is my very first, true father, and parent. He never saw me as a White Cybertronian or half-machine or armed soldier...he truly accepted me as who I am, the thing that only Arianna did to me when I first woke up. No one ever replaced Arianna for me...but my father was the only one who completely understood, just how painful it was for me to lose my sister..." Aria was releasing every words that she kept burying for herself.

Arcee listened to it, and she noticed that the girl was shaking terribly. "It's okay, just let it out," the blue femme told her.

_And the clothes you left, they lie on the floor_

_And they smell just like you, I love the things that you do_

Aria took a deep breath before continuing. "Well, the first time I saw him, my first impression, he was very awesome, cool, and on top of that...strong," she allowed herself to smile. "He became my idol in instant, he was just way, way too cool in my eyes. Everything in him just impressed me to the end. How he fought in battlefield, how he spoke, how he organized his plans, and the most awesome thing..." the girl paused. "Was how he managed to reach my heart. You still remembered when I told you he offered me to be his daughter, right?"

"Yes..." Arcee nodded.

"Well, I had to say, it was less expected by me. I hesitated at first. I knew deep in my heart I just loved him, but I still didn't know exactly how he felt toward me. At that time, I thought he wanted Arianna's replacement. I didn't want to be a replacement," Aria sighed. "But, after he was about to die in Megatron's hand, it struck me real hard. I finally realized that I needed him, I didn't want to lose him..."

_When you walk away I count the steps that you take_

_Do you see how much I need you right now?_

"I just realized on how much I loved him, I needed him. And I didn't want to lose him, before I even said 'I love you'. You know, I lost Arianna in such way, and I didn't want to repeat same mistake..." the girl confessed.

Arcee finally knew the reason, so that was why Aria changed her mind and finally accepted Optimus' offer before. "I see..."

"And then, finally I got what I needed, a family who accepted me fully. Because of my father on my side, I could go through anything, any hardship. You can feel so strong when you have somebody you love at your side, really," Aria glanced to Optimus' door once again. "Father gave me strength to move on with my life. Even after I finally knew about the story of my birth, I wasn't completely over."

_When you're gone_

_The pieces of my heart are missing you_

_When you're gone_

_The face I came to know is missing too_

_When you're gone_

_The words I need to hear to always get me through the day and make it OK_

_I miss you..._

"But now, I just don't know..." Aria finally started to cry. "If I have to be honest, I'm scared, Miss Arcee...! I know that no one can live forever, but if my life is going to end so soon..._I DON'T WANT TO DIE__!"_ the girl collapsed on her knees.

"Aria...!" Arcee reached out and placed the girl's head on her chest. Aria cried out on the blue femme's chassis, and Arcee hugged her tightly.

_We were made for each other_

_Out here forever_

_I know we were, yeah_

_All I ever wanted was for you to know_

_Everything I do, I give my heart and soul_

_I can hardly breathe, I need to feel you here with me, yeah_

"I...I want to live longer..." the ponytail sobbed.

Arcee's spark hurt terribly to hear the devastated cry from her beloved junior. She finally knew how much the girl already suffered. When she looked strong in outside, she was in point of breaking down inside. If only not for Optimus' presence on her side, Aria's heart was already over long time ago.

And Aria was dying with no way to prevent it. Arcee imagined it, if it was her, she already committed suicide since the beginning. Arcee admitted it, Aria was a tough girl inside.

"I...I want to live longer, at least until I can see my father..." Aria looked straight to Arcee's optics, tears soaked her human face. "I want to see him, for the last time...! I want to spend my last days...with my father..."

The blue motorcycle widened her eyes. All Aria wanted wasn't a long life, but a chance to see her beloved father before she died. "I know, Aria..." Arcee pulled the girl closer to her face. "If it's the only and last thing all of us can do for you, I will do everything for it. We will bring Optimus back soon, I promise..."

"Thank you..." Aria rested her head on Arcee's side. She was thankful for her mentor to lend a shoulder to cry. After crying so much, the girl started to feel sleepy. "Miss Arcee..." she whispered in sleepy voice.

"I know," Arcee brought the girl back to her room for some rest. Arcee could feel the warm spark beating of Aria on her chassis. The blue motorcycle certainly didn't want it to give up anytime soon. "You just need to hang on, Aria. Just...hang on."

_When you're gone_

_The pieces of my heart are missing you_

_When you're gone_

_The face I came to know is missing too_

_When you're gone_

_The words I need to hear to always get me through the day and make it OK_

"Father..." the ponytail murmured as she closed her eyes.

_I miss you..._

* * *

The song was When You're Gone by Avril Lavinge. Did I do a good job? :P


	3. The Connection Beyond Imagination

"_Reality is easy. It's deception that's the hard work"_

_Lauryn Hill_

* * *

"Two Body Slam Burger Specials, enjoy," Jack was on his usual duty at KO burger.

"Hey, Jack," and much to the boy's delight, Sierra, his favorite girl, came by. "How come I never see you around?" Sierra asked.

"What are you talking about? We have chemistry together," Jack replied bluntly "Uh, class. I meant chemistry class."

"I mean outside of school. I never see you at any parties or the mall..." the brunette girl commented.

"Well, mostly I'm here wearing the hat. And you can never study too hard for the old SATs you know. And I have some other stuff..." Jack heard the order bell again. "Don't go anywhere. Welcome to KO Drive-In, may I take your order?"

"_5pm, Jack. Your shift is over. Let's go," _it was not an order for burger, but an order from Arcee.

"Oh. That kind of stuff…," Sierra immediately jumped into conclusion, and she was about to leave.

"Sierra, wait!" Jack thought something for reason. "...It's my mom!"

By then, Arcee rolled in with her holographic driver.

"Wow, your mom looks really good on your bike," Sierra commented dryly, before leaving.

"Didn't mean to decimate your social life," Arcee apologized.

"It wouldn't be the first time," Jack sighed before changing the topic. "Any sign of Optimus?"

"Not today," Arcee replied.

"How about Aria...? Is she...?" Jack asked the next nervously.

"Not getting any better..." the blue bike was hesitating to say that.

* * *

"When we stormed the Iacon Hall of Records in the waning days of the War for Cybertron, we acquired many highly-classified files. Files written with Autobot codes. Which we have been unable to decipher," Megatron began explaining to Knock Out in the hallways.

"Autobot code which the Iacon archivist Orion Pax shall have no trouble cracking," Knock Out smirked as he got the hint. "Considering what's at stake here, shouldn't we beef up the security around here?"

"Knock Out, I believe that Orion will perform most affectively if he does not feel threatened or confined in any way. However, it is no coincidence that Orion's work station is located in direct proximity to the Energon Storage Vault," Megatron reassured.

"Which is under constant surveillance," Knock Out finished in realization before complimenting Megatron. "Well-played. By the way, Lord Megatron, there is something about him that I thought I have to mention it to you."

"What is it?"

"Earlier, when I performed throughout medical examination on him, I found a weird anomaly on my scanner," Knock Out swiped out his scanner to show it. "I have never seen something like this before." In his scanner, there was a scanned image of Orion, with a white dot on the chassis.

"A virus?" Megatron asked.

"No, there's no sign of it. However, whatever thing this is, seemed to be...White..." the red medic answered in doubt.

Hearing the word White, Megatron raised his optic ridge. "That girl, what had she done...? Whatever it might be, remove it!" he ordered.

"I'm afraid I can't do that, Lord Megatron," the red medic held his hands in surrender. "The thing is so close to his spark chamber, if I perform any kind of surgery there, the risk of off lining him is just too high."

* * *

Back on Autobot base, Rafael was on the couch area, doing his homework. Across him, Aria was laying on her back on the couch. The boy had to admit it, he was worried. That girl usually would be in training room blowing up some steams, or challenging the boy for games, or anything. "Aria...are you feeling okay?"

"Yeah...I'm fine..." Aria replied weakly.

"Well...if you need anything, you can just tell me, you know..." Rafael sighed. "Like, delivering your meal, cleaning up your room, taking you to the toilet...oh no! Not the last one, sorry."

Aria just smiled hearing that. "Thanks, Raf."

That was when they heard beeping sound from GroundBridge. "Ratchet," Rafael finally asked. "Are you turbocharging the GroundBridge?"

"Tinkering, no need to get anyone's hopes up just yet," Ratchet answered before resuming his work.

"Well, I can help you if you want..." Aria stood up from the couch.

"No, I'm fine all by myself, you don't want to exhaust yourself," all the medic could do for the situation, was keeping the girl from doing any exerting jobs. It was to keep her alive long enough, at least until they managed to get Optimus back.

* * *

In his work station, Orion was busy decoding Project Iacon. As an archivist, it was a great pleasure for him to do such task. It was his desire to work in Hall of Record. He would decode it rather smoothly, if there wasn't any hitch on himself.

"Not again..." Orion was bothered by certain feeling on his chassis. It started since he first got aboard Nemesis. Nothing really painful, but his spark was beating faster than usual. "Just what is this...?" he asked. Knock Out already gave him clean bill of health, but the sensation in his chassis really made him uncomfortable.

But this time, there was something else. An image flashed through his processor, a certain femme colored in sea-green armor. "What in the name of Allspark...?" he said in disbelief, as that image still ran around his head.

"Orion, how fair's Project Iacon?" Megatron asked as he approached Orion in his work room, snapped him out of his thought.

"I am a bit rusty, I fear. I've only managed to decode five entries," Orion confessed.

"And what do these entries comprise?" Megatron immediately wanted to know.

"They were logged by Autobot archivist during the war, after I entered stasis. My only knowledge of their entries so far is that they are coordinates," Orion began explaining as he typed in the necessary commands to show his evidence to Megatron, "Targeting locations on this very planet. I surmise that they could indicate hiding places for vessels. Shuttled from Cybertron for safe-keeping."

"Such as historical documents or cultural artifacts?" Megatron guessed.

"My greatest fear would be weapons of mass destruction. Hidden away for later use," Orion replied.

"All the more reason it is essential that we do everything in our power to keep said vessels from Autobot reach," Megatron declared as he rested a hand on his brother's shoulder, "We are fortunate to have you on our side, Orion Pax."

"Lord Megatron," Orion asked before the Decepticon leader left. "I am puzzled by one particular finding. I have discovered several historical references to Starscream as your second-in-command. Yet I have not seen him aboard the ship."

Megatron already had more on his storage. "Sadly, Commander Starscream is dead."

"There is also thing that really concerned me, back then, when we were being attacked by the Autobot aggressor," he recalled the event. "There was this very young female, if I am not mistaken, she called me as 'father'."

Megatron's spark skipped a beat hearing that.

"Do you have any idea on who was that young femme...?" Orion asked. "Or, why did she addressed me as that?"

"Orion, as your memory served it, do you remember of having any more sparkling than Arianna herself?" the Decepticon leader turned around and asked.

"...No..." confusion filled Orion's face. "Arianna was the only one I had..."

"Well, then you do not need to be bothered by that particular femme," Megatron then exited the room. He growled slightly, he knew very well of Orion's habit of asking. But, that habit was very risky for his cause alone.

* * *

"You sure you don't need my assistance, Ratch?" Aria peeked as Ratchet was working on his equipment.

"Positive, I'm all good. I was used to do all of these all by myself, before you came," the medic replied.

"Oh yeah, I see..." Aria sighed, as she buried her face on the couch.

"You feeling alright...?" it was already routine question from the medic.

"Yeah...just sleepy..." the girl replied sleepily.

It was already one month, nearly the time Ratchet said. In anybody's point of view, Aria was seemed to be in perfect health, despite her face was pale. But, they couldn't help but being worried.

"_RATCHET! ARE YOU AWAKE? THIS IS AN EMERGENCY!_" Fowler screamed to the comm link.

"Agent Fowler, is it Optimus?" Ratchet stopped his work, and all the Autobots gathered on the area.

"_Sadly, no. But we have trouble with Decepticons. They're busting into the same military research lab they hit last month!_"

Hearing the word Decepticon, Aria's ears perked open.

"Another space bridge?" Bulkhead guessed.

"For all we know, Optimus is riding with them," Arcee pointed out.

"Then, roll out!" Ratchet commanded.

"Wait, I'm going too!" Aria said as she leapt off the platform.

"No, no, you stay here!" Ratchet prevented the ponytail from going. He wasn't about to let the girl burned up her white energon leftover.

"Ratch, they have my father!" Aria argued.

"Let us do the job for you," Arcee stated before they drove to the GroundBridge.

Aria sighed, but she didn't want to sit around when her friends were in trouble. "Agent Fowler, you still there?!" she spun around.

"_Yeah, in the plain, are you feeling alright kiddo?"_ Fowler asked.

"In the plain," Aria walked forward to the screen. "Agent Fowler, I may not be in charge here, but to avoid human casualty, I recommend you to evacuate all of the soldiers from the area."

"_My Lady Liberty, why I haven't thought about that?_" immediately the black agent reached his radio.

* * *

But, Fowler's call was bit too late, because Knock Out and Breakdown were already making so much explosions. They blew out several tanks of US army, after stealing the previous power source.

Just then, Autobot team arrived, they transformed to bipedal mode and opened fire.

"Aren't you missing someone?" Knock Out mocked.

Air support had arrived, but it was no better situation for the Cons. "Waiting on that bridge!" Knock Out called for ride home at last. Not for long, the portal opened and they prepared to retreat. "We'll be sure to tell the big O you said hello!"

Arcee looked to the portal, and she didn't have second thought. She immediately transformed to motorcycle and raced to the GroundBridge. At last, she managed to jump through before the portal closed. The blue bike jumped over Knock Out's head and raced on Nemesis hallway.

"Scrap," Knock Out grumbled.

Arcee knew that it was very dangerous and foolish plan, but she had no choice. They've waited for a full month with zero result. What was more, Aria, her precious junior and friend, was running out of time. If they couldn't do anything to save the girl's life, at least Arcee wanted to grant her last wish.

As she stormed the hallway, more drones waited and fired at her. The blue femme dodged every fire, and transformed to bipedal mode. She jumped, shot one drone, and kicked the two others. "Where's Optimus?" Arcee put the drone on knifepoint. "ANSWER ME!" but it couldn't last because more back up arrived and opened fire. Arcee grabbed the Con below her feet and used him as shield. She managed to take down more Cons, then transformed to motorcycle to speed off again.

* * *

Megatron wasn't pleased at all to see an Autobot managed to get aboard his ship.

"Arcee," Airachnid smirked as she stood on her spider legs, ready to attack, "Allow me to welcome her aboard."

"No! If Orion so much as lays his eyes on another Autobot and let alone witnesses the destruction, everything he currently believes will be called into question!" Megatron then turned to Soundwave, "See to it that this Arcee is escorted off this ship immediately!"

* * *

Not for long, Soundwave was standing in the hallway where Arcee sped on. Arcee decided to just jump on that faceless Con, but she didn't expect what was happening next. As the blue bike approached, Soundwave immediately opened GroundBridge, and eventually sending the blue femme out of the ship.

Just then, Orion happened to walk by. "I heard commotion," he asked to the surveillance Con.

Soundwave didn't answer, as usual. He just glanced briefly to the librarian, then walked off.

* * *

After exiting the GroundBridge, Arcee found herself being transported to very cold place, presumably Arctic.

"What the...?" she transformed to her bipedal move. Realizing what happened just before, she threw her outraged scream. It was very, very close, yet, she failed.

* * *

"You weren't able to determine the Decepticons' location? Or even if Optimus was aboard ship?" Ratchet asked to the femme after she was back on the base.

"I…couldn't confirm," Arcee said regretfully, she casted a glance to Aria who was on her side. "I'm so sorry."

"It's okay, as long as you're safe," Aria just smiled, with her obviously pale face. Then, she felt a discomfort feeling on her spark. It didn't hurt, but Aria unconsciously placed her hand to her chest, and groaned slightly.

It was too much for Bulkhead, he threw his frustration out by breaking nearby Ratchet's tool.

"BULKHEAD!" Ratchet yelled.

"What? You needed that?! The only thing I need is our head honchoes back!" the green bot cut in angrily.

"It's not your fault," Jack tried to comfort his guardian.

"If any of us needed rescuing, Optimus would've found a way! I didn't! Simple as that!" Arcee still blamed on herself.

Just then, Fowler contacted them again. "_Ratchet! What happened out there? Reports indicate at least a dozen wounded! Your kid was just too late to relay the evacuation command. The heat's on me to provide some kind of explanation! You bots better get your act together or the Pentagon will make me shut down your base!_"

"But…where would you go?" Rafael asked.

"Who knows? Maybe they'll ship us off to some island! Or fire us into space! Wouldn't that be a welcome relief?" Ratchet answered in frustration.

"Just don't blame Fowler, it's my fault anyway. I failed to mention the main protocol my father usually used," Aria sighed regretfully. She finally knew, that being a leader was pretty difficult.

_We don't know that_ Bumblebee said.

"We don't actually know what Optimus would have done because he's not here!" Bulkhead retorted.

"You're pretty good at stating the obvious, Bulk. Anything else you'd like to mention that I already know?" Arcee stood up and faced the green bot.

"Nothing I can say in front of the children," Bulkhead growled, they already started a heated argument.

"HEY!" Jack interfered their fight. "Aren't we overlooking one positive? Nobody's talking about just what the 'Cons just got their claws on!"

"Yes, we've managed to allow them to finally acquire a power source for their space bridge!" Ratchet answered harshly.

"And how exactly would that be a positive?" Arcee asked.

Aria then got an idea, and she exchanged look with Jack. "Then why don't we let them finish building that space bridge?" Aria suggested.

"Why? So they can bring more zombies back from Cybertron?!" Bulkhead guessed.

"No, so we can come and commandeer it," Aria replied.

"And use it to send me to Cybertron," Jack finished.

"Wow, that's pretty good idea!" Miko responded.

"Oh, if Miko thinks it's good idea..." Arcee said sarcastically.

"Nobody is saying that it will be easy. But you've seized a space bridge before!" Jack argued again.

"We blew one up!" Bulkhead reminded him. "That's a whole lot different than three of us seizing and holding one!"

_Why don't we try to find it first?_ the yellow scout asked.

"Bee's right, we'd have to find the thing first," Arcee finally agreed on one thing.

"Uh, hello! If it's a space bridge, isn't it…?" Miko pointed to above her.

"The term 'space' refers to its transport range! Not its physical location!" Ratchet scoffed. "And we've been monitoring Earth's orbit since the last one! We'd know if it were there!"

"So the bridge could be somewhere here on Earth!" Jack realized.

"Like trying to find a servo at a scrap yard," Bulkhead grumbled.

"We all know the Cons, there's no way they would build such big thing on very obvious place," Aria stated. "They must have it in somewhere very remote."

"With that, the chances are multiplying. Then maybe we'd better start looking," Arcee remarked.

"But the fact remains. We do not know what the Decepticons have in store for Optimus, or if he is truly safe from harm," Ratchet reminded them.

"He's still safe, and alive," Aria stated. "I can feel it." She briefly touched her chest. She really meant her words, she somehow could feel that Optimus was safe and sound somewhere.

They all stared to the girl in worry. Yes, they didn't know if Optimus was safe, or he knew that his daughter was dying, or if he even still remembered that he had a second daughter.

* * *

Meanwhile, six drones of flying Vehicons returned to their ship. But, oblivious to them, they had someone following them. It was Starscream.

The main reason why he took such risk being found by Megatron, was because he was desperate for energon. So, he proceeded very carefully, and after some sneaking around, he found what he looked for, energon storage vault.

"STARSCREAM!" one drone exclaimed as he and his partner aimed their blasters at Starscream.

"That's COMMANDER Starscream. What's your malfunction? Lower those weapons immediately," Starscream immediately ordered.

"I'm sorry, sir. But Lord Megatron ordered that you be taken into custody should you ever return to the ship," the drone proclaimed.

"What?" Starscream exclaimed in surprise. "Clearly, there has been a mistake!" but, after that, he proceeded to slay the two drones.

* * *

Inside the work station, Orion was having the sensation again, this time, it was more intense. He clutched his chassis in great discomfort. "What is happening to me...?" then his mind went blank. He heard this very soft, female voice inside his head.

_You no longer have the very wisdom inherited by the God of Creation_

_But with the heart inside your spark, you can still be connected to her__  
_

_The power of true love from the very one who never abandon you forever, already surpassed any kind of power beyond imagination of living and afterlife. It shall be your power, blessing, and also a very important duty_

_In order for you not to never again abandon the one whom you love to the very end_

"What?" Orion's mind snapped back to reality after that. He really had no idea on whose voice was that, or what were those words supposed to mean.

* * *

Well, it didn't take long before Starscream became prey for hunting for all the Decepticon drones in the ship. It wasn't all hard for the Seeker to defeat all of those. He knew that more would come, so he had to act fast. He immediately opened the storage vault, and scooped up four cubes. But as Starscream was about to make his escape, he heard drones approaching. He decided to enter one room to hide for a moment. But inside, there was someone he less expected.

"NO!" Starscream gasped in disbelief as he dropped the cubes and aimed his weapons at him "OPTIMUS PRIME?!"

The said mech turned around to find the traitor behind him. Orion was rather confused, Starscream whom Megatron said already dead was there. And he called him a Prime, when his memory told him he wasn't it.


	4. Time

"_I have looked into your eyes with my eyes. I have put my heart near your heart"_

_Pope John XXIII_

* * *

"OPTIMUS PRIME?!" Starscream immediately pointed his missiles to Orion Pax.

"Please, I mean no harm..." Orion immediately pleaded.

"Oh...? And what are you doing here?" the jet asked, his missiles were still pointed.

"Research, for Lord Megatron," Orion answered.

Starscream raised his ridge, had this Prime gone out of his mind? "Is this some kind of joke?!"

"I...don't understand..." the librarian was even more confused. "And why do you call me Optimus Prime?"

"Why wouldn't I...?" Starscream realized that something was terribly wrong with the red mech. Either Megatron already worked some kind of spell on him, or the Decepticon leader bashed his head hard enough to cause amnesia.

"My name is Orion Pax, I am far from being a Prime..." Orion confessed, and Starscream noticed Decepticon insignia on his arm.

"You...reminded me of someone I once knew, that's all..." Starscream quickly made up a reason.

"You are...Starscream?" it was Orion's turn to ask.

"Lord Megatron told me that you have been...terminated."

"Lord Megatron says many things. Only some of which are true," Starscream answered.

"You do not suggest that our leader would speak falsehoods?" the librarian immediately got curious.

"You truly are being kept in the dark, aren't you?" Starscream cackled, it was rather amusing for him to see the great leader of Autobot was so innocent and clueless.

* * *

"Just a little bit more..." Ratchet was about to finish with GroundBridge tinkering. And, it was already his habit to check over Aria who was sitting on the couch with Rafael. As he looked up, the girl was laying on the couch, sleeping peacefully. "Rafael, how is she?"

"She's okay, just sleeping..." Rafael answered as he too, worked on his remote control car. "You know, she has been sleeping a lot recently..." he voiced over his concern. It was true, in the last three days, Aria spent most of her time sleeping. But even with that much rest, her face was still looked pale and tired.

Ratchet stopped his work to walk to the platform, and scanned the sleeping girl quietly. He could already expect the result, but he just wanted to know if the girl could stay alive just bit longer. The medic examined the scan result, and he was rather shocked. "By the Allspark!" he yelled out.

"Ratch, what is it?!" Rafael was alarmed.

"She..." Ratchet eyed the white energon level repeatedly, he wanted to deny it, but he couldn't. "Aria is running out of time..."

"What do you mean...?" Rafael expected the worse.

"With the result like this..." the medic shut his optics painfully. "She can't last more than 2 days..."

"WHAT?!" Rafael cried out. But, they then heard a murmur, Aria was waking up thanks to Rafael's shout.

"...What time is it...?" Aria sleepily asked, as she rubbed her eyes.

"Umm...2 o' clock in afternoon..." Rafael answered.

"Oh my, I fell asleep again..." the ponytail struggled to sit up, she still felt very, very tired. "...I think I heard something just now..."

"Uh eh...nothing, really," Ratchet tried to keep his expression normal, as he immediately hid his scanner. "We were just...discussing of some things..."

"Yeah, everything is alright, really..." Rafael tried to keep normal, although his acting was less convincing. "So Ratchet, when are we going to test the new transport?" he changed the subject.

* * *

"You speak many riddles, Starscream. Please, tell me what it is that you know," Orion really wanted to know the truth, the thing that he could really believe.

"And in return…," Starscream was about to play his game...

"Starscream, surrender!" but he got the jackpot even before he started it, the drones were already in the door, with their weapons pointed.

The jet was shocked, and he hid behind Orion for protection.

"Hold your fire!" the red mech tried to protect the Seeker.

But Starscream just transformed to jet and flew across the hallway. The drones were ready for pursuit. "Orion, remain in the lab!" one drone ordered.

"But I..."

"Lord Megatron's order," the drone received no argument, before he closed the door, transformed and pursued the runaway traitor. More of the drones were in hallway, tried to shoot Starscream. But Starscream just knocked them all over. He transformed to jump on his pursuer and killed him. After that, he transformed again to get away from following missiles shot. He made a hole in the ship for his escape by his missiles. But as he flew out of the hole, one missile from Decepticon drone struck him on his rear.

"NOOOOO!" Starscream screamed as he rocketed to the ground.

* * *

Back in Autobot base, Ratchet and Rafael were prepared to conduct the test.

"Rafael, is the test subject ready?" Ratchet asked.

The glasses boy placed his customized remote control car on the floor. "Check," Raf nodded. "Long range GPS activated."

"I have doubts that my recalibrations have successfully extended GroundBridge range. But there is only one way to find out," Ratchet slightly prayed as he activated the portal. Rafael immediately activated the dar and controlled it to the GroundBridge. They watched in anxiety. But, their hope was shattered as the car sparked and destroyed.

"It was just the first try," Raf reminded Ratchet.

"No, Rafael. It was pure folly, misguided act of desperation," Ratchet turned smug again. "It takes eons to master Space Bridge engineering. And no one is more accomplished than the Decepticons."

"You know, there's this thing in gym class where you have to climb a rope. All the way to the ceiling. It's really hard. And I've never been able to do it. But…when I told Bee about it, he believed in me. Which made me practice a ton. And finally, just a couple of weeks ago, I made it. To the top!" Rafael tried to cheer the medic up.

"What does any of this have to do with gym class?!" Ratchet retorted harshly.

"I...I was just..." the boy stuttered, loss at words. "I'll give you some alone time."

Ratchet sighed heavily as the boy left him. It seemed like all their efforts were fruitless.

"Raf tried to make you feel better, see?" Aria walked by.

Ratchet glanced to the ponytail, it hurt him to see that cheerful girl being sick like that. "As if I can be feeling any better right now, Aria..." he whispered. "We are out of options and chances...to bring him back, as soon as possible before..." he immediately shut his mouth, as he was about to slip. "Before..."

Aria smiled sadly. "Before I make my last goodbye, you mean?"

The medic widened his eyes in shock.

The ponytail sighed heavily. "I know my own body better than anybody else, Ratchet," she touched her chest. "And I know it, I have no more than 48 hours from this second...maybe less."

"Aria, I..." the CMO crouched down. He wanted to say something, but he just couldn't bring out the word.

"I know," the girl walked forward and touched his leg. "It's not any of your fault, Ratch. Well, if it supposed to be my end, then so be it..." her hands were shaking. But she was scared, to the fact that she might not have the chance to see Optimus for the last time.

* * *

"Orion," Megatron entered Orion's work room. "I never had the chance to apologize to you for the recent commotion, and the experience you had to endure with my former second-in-command. You weren't in any way harmed, were you?"

"No," the red mech shook his head. "But why did you tell me Starscream was dead?"

"Because he is dead to our cause! Starscream was my most trusted lieutenant. Until he turned traitor and joined the Autobots," Megatron lied. "Never before have I witnessed a more profound act of deceit! He did not do us anything troubling to you?"

"No."

"Good. Perhaps it is best to forget the entire incident and return to your project," Megatron left the laboratory. "Orion was never in depth in the art of deception," Megatron reflected, the translation being Orion was a bad liar. "I made the mistake of not terminating Starscream when I had the opportunity. A mistake I do not intend to make again!"

* * *

Bulkhead was back from his scouting mission, with zero result. "No sign of energon spikes," Bulkhead reported grimly, "Arcee or Bee find the Space Bridge?"

"They haven't yet reported back," Ratchet answered sadly.

"For full hour, to be exact," Aria was on Ratchet's side.

"...You okay, girl?" Bulkhead asked carefully.

"Yeah...I'm fine," Aria forced to smile.

"How about you, Ratch? Are you alright...?" Bulkhead asked again.

"Hmmm? Yes, yes, let's get you to the next quadrant," Ratchet responded before his monitor beeped something.

"What is it?" Bulkhead got curious.

"A high-frequency signal. With an imbedded message. For _me_!" Ratchet exclaimed in surprise.

"Optimus?" the green bot asked.

"Starscream," the medic checked over the sender, then read the message. "I have obtained information regarding your leader. Bring medical kit. Come alone."

"That's it!" Aria immediately exclaimed. "He knows something!"

"But, I don't advise you to just go there all alone, doc," Bulkhead said.

"Yeah, it'll be better if you bring back up," Aria pointed to herself.

"Bulkhead will come with me. Aria, you stay here and watch the monitor," Ratchet instructed.

"But...!"

"No argument!" Ratchet knew that the girl would lose her temper once met with Decepticon. And the medic didn't want her to waste anymore energy for unnecessary rage.

* * *

Starscream was lying on remote location at mountain, his leg was leaking pretty bad. Just then, a GroundBridge opened, Ratchet and Bulkhead walked out.

"I told you to come alone!" Starscream snarled.

"And since when do we listen to you?" Bulkhead asked as he deployed his wrecking ball.

"Where is Optimus?" Ratchet demanded.

"Patch me up and perhaps I'll tell you," Starscream tried to bargain, but he was better at begging for mercy. "Have sympathy! I'm leaking here!"

"Then I suggest that you speak quickly!" Ratchet threatened. "Has Optimus been harmed in any way?"

"He's fine! Fine! Can't you see I'm the one that's been harmed?" Starscream answered back.

"Where is he?!" Bulkhead boomed.

"Where do you think?! He's on Megatron's warship!" the jet yelled back.

"Which is located where?!" the CMO grew his patience out.

"Now, who knows? It's a ship! It moves! It took me months to track! Only to be thrown into a cell and fired upon!" Starscream grumbled in annoyance.

"You wouldn't have gone through the trouble to call me here unless you have information to trade. _Real_ information!" Ratchet pointed out.

"Very well. Your beloved leader may have lost his senses. He goes by the name Orion Pax now. And it seems Megatron has lead him to believe he's a Decepticon," Starscream reported.

"Heh, tell us something we don't know," Bulkhead scoffed.

"WHAT? How could you possibly know that?" Starscream yelled in disbelief.

"We're wasting our time," Ratchet decided as they went to walk back through the portal.

"WAIT! THAT'S ALL I HAVE! REALLY!" Starscream called out desperately for his life. "YOU CAN'T JUST LEAVE ME LIKE THIS!"

"Unless you know where Megatron's hiding his Space Bridge, you can stay here and rust," Bulkhead stated.

"Space Bridge...? Do you mean to tell me that they actually finished building it without my supervision?!" Starscream exclaimed in disbelief, but he knew he finally had something to trade off. "It hurts most right here, Doctor…"

Having no choice, Ratchet began patching up the Decepticon, while fished out the information at the same time.

* * *

Back on the base, Aria was monitoring the comm link as well as the GroundBridge control. She was rather impatient, for the fact that they found Starscream and he could have useful information. For the girl, the minutes felt like hours, as she paced back and forth in the command center.

"If it was me, I just would not spend my precious time just for the scrap head high heeler..." she murmured in annoyance. Then all of the sudden, she was attacked by severe pain exactly on her spark. It even made her collapsing on her knees.

"What the...?" Aria gasped in pain as she clutched her chest. Her spark was beating numerous times faster, and it hurt so much.

_The heart alone is not enough, the power of wisdom is needed_

_Without the existence of wisdom, everything is just useless_

"Parthonus...?" it was a while since last time she heard the late Saint's voice. "The heart...that's right...!" But, Aria knew she didn't have time to think of that. Her spark was just too painful, and her instinct told her to seek for help immediately. She dragged herself to the comm link, and tried to contact Ratchet. But, she didn't found a strength to speak. Her vision started to go blurry, and all of her body went numb.

"_Is it already my time...?"_

* * *

"Yeah, there was no better place to build the Space Bridge than that place. Ouch! Be gentle!" Starscream flinched in pain, it turned out, Ratchet didn't take things for granted.

"Stay still or you will make it more difficult for me!" the medic wasn't in the mood for saving Decepticon. He was about to finish the job, when his comm link beeped, it was from the base. "Aria? I'm sorry, but it may take bit longer before we return..." he was expecting the girl on the other side to say something, but all silence. "Aria...?" still no words, then it dawned on Ratchet that Aria was unable to answer because of something.

"OUCH!" the Seeker Con yelled in pain as Ratchet banged his leg. "It hurts! You try to break my leg, crazy doctor?!"

Ratchet didn't answer, worry and horror were present on his face. He hurriedly packed up his tools and ran to the still opened GroundBridge portal.

"Doc, what's wrong?" Bulkhead was confused, as Ratchet just ignored him and dashed back to the portal. Still confused, the green bot just followed the CMO. Then as they returned to the base, Bulkhead finally knew why Ratchet was in such hurry.

Aria was lying on the floor, unconscious.

* * *

By the evening, everybody was gathered for mission briefing, the journey to recover Optimus' memory mission to be exact. The fact that they finally knew where Decepticon Space Bridge was pretty much relieving. But, they didn't expect to receive the grieving news first.

"I thought she could have more than this but..." Ratchet's voice was broken. Never in his medic career he felt this hopeless. "I'm afraid she couldn't make it past tonight..."

Aria was on stretcher, connected to electro pulse monitor. Her spark beat was so weak, the sign that it was about to give up pretty soon. She was in her human mode, the idea being that her organic part would keep her last bit longer. But, even Ratchet couldn't be sure how long it could last.

All the people couldn't hide their horror.

"You said she could last for 2 days!" Rafael cried out. "Why all of the sudden...?"

"Aria's condition deteriorated more rapidly than I previously thought, Rafael," Ratchet hung his head low. He briefly glanced back, the girl was surrounded by her friends. Miko was on her side, clutching the ponytail's hand.

"This isn't fair..." June had her eyes wet. "She's...just so young...why she has to..."

"She already went through so many things, as far as I knew, Nurse Darby..." Fowler was wrapping his arm around June's shoulder. "She is a tough girl..." he couldn't hide his remorseful face.

"This can't be happening...!" Miko cried, it was pretty rare to see that tomboy girl crying. "Aria, you promised to go with me to monster truck rally the day after tomorrow...! YOU PROMISED ME!"

"Miko..." Aria whispered weakly. That girl surely looked like she was going to die. The ponytail's eyes just half-opened, she was barely conscious. Her breathing was slow, and her face was white pale. "I'm so sorry...it looks like...I can't."

Arcee could see no more, she immediately met up with Ratchet. "Ratchet, tell us where the Space Bridge is!" she demanded.

"Arcee, you..." Ratchet stuttered.

"That's all? Your student is in this kind of situation, you still think of 'gotta go to work'?!" Bulkhead was rather annoyed.

Arcee turned around to face Bulkhead. "Because of Aria, that is! You really think we should just sit there and watch her, absolutely not doing something about it?!" she hissed.

"And what exactly we supposed to do about it?! In case it's not obvious, there's NOTHING we can do! Even docbot can't do a single thing!" Bulkhead threw something that sounded like an insult, but regret and remorse were present in his words.

"We do what we can right now, bring Optimus back as soon as possible," the blue motorcycle replied with high tone. "Do you really want Optimus to come home and find the dead body of his daughter?!"

Bulkhead was speechless, so were the others. They knew very well, Optimus loved Aria more than anything else. The Prime would sacrifice anything just for his daughter. Aria was his last daughter. Optimus already lost Arianna, his first daughter, and the Prime absolutely didn't want to lose the second. When they somehow managed to restore his memory and bring him back, but Aria already gave in, they couldn't tell how Optimus would feel after that.

"Bulk, we may not be able to do some sort of magical thing. Don't you know, Aria really wants to see Optimus...for the last time. I bet Optimus also wants the same thing," Arcee softened her voice. "And I, myself, certainly don't want to fail on that."

All people presented also agreed on Arcee's words. Immediately, they returned their mind to the mission ahead.

"The Decepticon Space Bridge is located right here," Ratchet explained to the others. "Deep within an energon mine."

"Adjacent to a raw fuel supply, clever," Arcee commented. "Who's our intel?"

Bulkhead and Ratchet exchanged looks to each other. "A...reliable source," the medic merely replied, earning a weird look from the femme. "So do we have a consensus?" he changed the topic and turned to the humans, especially Jack who was entrusted with the main job.

Which worried June even more. "Do we even know if people can breathe in your atmosphere?" June immediately asked.

"I'll hook Jack up, I still have connections at NASA," Fowler suggested.

"It's too dangerous!" June protested.

"Mom, I know that this is hard. But first of all, Optimus risked his life to save our planet. And he's not even human. We owe it to him," Jack retorted. "And I really don't want Aria to pass before her father at her side. It's terrible, even for me."

"Jack may be the only one to do this, June. But I don't want you to think for one moment that I'll allow him to travel to Cybertron alone," Arcee talked in.

"Not everyone is destined for a normal life. Optimus was once Orion Pax after all," Ratchet said.

_You can say that for me too..._oblivious to them, Aria still could hear their conversation, albeit not clear.

"When you were little, you always wanted to be an astronaut..." June looked straight to her son's eyes. She was still worried, she was his mom after all. But June knew, that this wasn't a simple matter. And her son, wasn't a little child anymore.

* * *

Back on Nemesis, Orion was still on his project, but his chassis still bothered him. This time, he even felt pain exactly from his spark. But, he already went to Knock Out for the third time of examination earlier that day, he was just fine.

And the unknown familiar voice inside his head was getting nuisance.

_Restore the heart, it is already your destiny, as the last Prime_

_There is no time left_

"How many I told you I'm not a Prime?!" somehow, he felt like a crazy bot, as he was talking to no one but inside his head. "Prime...Optimus Prime..." he was reminded by the name mentioned by Starscream before.

"Okay, Optimus Prime..." that name still bugged the archivist Orion Pax. He looked up the name on Decepticon database. "Optimus Prime, leader of the Autobot invaders. I reminded Starscream of him...and Lord Megatron said Ratchet was the Autobot leader. Someone is not telling the truth..."

* * *

"We will GroundBridge directly into the Autobot mine. And make our way to the Space Bridge chamber, neutralizing any Decepticon enforcements we encounter," Ratchet began to brief. "Once we secure the Space Bridge, we'll send for Jack. Stealth must be an absolute priority. We will most certainly be outnumbered. And if any Decepticon should transmit an alert to their warship…"

"The odds become 400 to one," Bulkhead finished for Ratchet.

"Scrambling communications upon entry will provide an edge on this regard," Ratchet suggested.

"Taking the bridge will be the easy part. You three need to hold it long enough for Jack and me to get to Cybertron and back," Arcee pointed out.

"Rafael climbed to the top of the rope in gym class, we can do this," the CMO said with determination. Which made Rafael smiled to him.

"What does gym class have to do with anything?" Miko asked. "And if Ratchet gets to go on a commando raid, I'm going to."

"Miko, you will help Rafael operate our GroundBridge and manage the communications on," Ratchet replied.

"Uggggh! Can't go to Cybertron...can't storm the Decepticon Space Bridge," the pigtail groaned in annoyance.

"Nurse Darby, you will stand by in case of an emergency," Ratchet finished briefing the jobs. "And, please take care of Aria..." he sadly turned a last glance to the girl on stretcher.

All the Autobots took their chance to meet up with Aria. They feared that it was the last time they could see the girl alive.

"Be careful...guys..." Aria just replied weakly, she struggled to keep conscious.

"We will bring him back, you can trust us, kid," Bulkhead pounced his chest with his hand. Even Bumblebee nodded vigorously in agreement.

"Jack," Fowler called, earning their attention, "It's time to get ready."

Rafael prepared to open the GroundBridge, and all the Autobots were about to assemble. Before that, Arcee heard the ponytail girl called her out weakly. "Aria...?" she turned around once more.

"Miss...Arcee..." Aria tried to sit up, as she motioned the blue femme to come by waving her hand.

"Don't push yourself..." Arcee walked back and crouched down at her side. "What is it...?"

"I know...the chance is slim, but...bring my father back..." Aria gasped out.

"I know, Aria. That's why, you have to be strong. Hang on at least until we finish it," Arcee replied.

"It's not just that...Miss Arcee..." Aria paused to catch her breath. "The...the heart..."

"The heart?" Arcee frowned.

"It is...my father's..." but Aria had lost her strength to continue.

"Arcee!" Ratchet called out. "We are about to leave! Come on!"

Arcee knew that they had little time. "I'm so sorry, but I have to go now. See you later," Arcee hurriedly stood up, and grouped with the team.

* * *

The GroundBridge immediately transported the team inside the energon mine. They deployed their weapon as soon as they arrived. Much to their relief, there wasn't any Decepticon in sight yet.

"Clear," Bulkhead confirmed.

"Clear," Arcee confirmed.

The Decepticon drones were guarding the drilling equipment. They didn't notice Arcee sneaking up behind them. The blue bike immediately leapt down and kicked one drone as hard as possible. The second drone was flattened by Bumblebee.

The third was about to call back up. "Command! This is Space Bridge Control, we are under attack! Command! Do you hea..." he didn't have a chance to finish, as Bulkhead knocked him over with his wrecking ball.

"Shhhh," Ratchet shushed as he played his signal scrambler.

After they took the upper level, they immediately took an elevator to the lower ground. Bulkhead immediately pancaked one drone standing by the lower elevator. The team soon proceeded to the deeper level. And there, they found it as they took cover behind rocks.

"By the Allspark..." Ratchet gaped as soon as he saw the thing, the Space Bridge.

"Thank you Starscream," Arcee received a shocked look from Bulkhead. "Who else could it be?"

They didn't wait for any longer, so they immediately stormed and attacked every drones presented. After all of the guards were down, Ratchet proceeded to Space Bridge control panel. "A masterpiece of engineering," he commented.

"Operational?" Arcee asked.

"Fully," the medic replied as he pressed a button on the screen.

"Perimeter secured," Bulkhead reported.

"Now the scary part," Arcee reminded.

I'm shutting down the scrambler in order to contact base and maintain communication for the remainder of the mission," Ratchet responded.

* * *

"_Strike Team to base. Objective secured._"

"That's your cue," Fowler said to Jack who was already in space suit.

The boy was more than prepared. He put his helmet up and saluted to his friends.

"Bring me back a souvenir," Raf requested.

"So what happens when you have to go to the bathroom?" Miko couldn't help but ask.

"Safe journey, son," Fowler bided.

"Jack..." Aria whispered weakly from her stretcher. "Be careful."

"I will," Jack nodded to the dying girl. "I won't disappoint you."

"Just go already. Optimus needs you," June said as she hugged her son.

With that, Jack stepped to the GroundBridge, ready for the important mission entrusted to him since the beginning. He couldn't afford to fail this one.

* * *

"Locking onto Cybertron," Ratchet set the Space Bridge.

"You ready?" Arcee asked her charge.

"Let's do this," Jack nodded as he took out the key from his pocket.

"I'll leave the Space Bridge portal open in order to eliminate any communication lag over the great distance and make it easier for you to locate when you return," Ratchet confirmed.

"Easier to locate? Can't you just bridge us straight there?" Jack questioned.

"The location of Vector Sigma is shrouded in myth, Jack. It is said the path of the Prime leads there. You must believe the key card given by Optimus will guide you," the medic replied.

"Don't worry. Space Bridging is just like GroundBridging," Arcee reassured the boy.

Then, Ratchet activated the Space Bridge. It fired up with ridiculously loud noise.

"Just a little more intense!" Arcee shouted over the noise.

* * *

Arcee and Jack finally got through the portal and arrived at Cybertron. Jack was impressed by what he saw before his eyes. "I…I can't believe it!" Jack gasped. "I'm actually on another planet! Arcee, it's incredible!"

But Arcee wasn't in the same mood, as Cybertron was dark and in ruin. It was a ghostly place. "This isn't how I wanted you to see my home," Arcee said sadly.

"I...I'm sorry..." Jack apologized.

"In the fog of war, its hard to see beyond the next leg of the mission. Beyond the next punch in a fight. We did everything to save Cybertron. But when the fog finally lifted, there wasn't much left to save," the blue femme reflected back to the day of great war.

"_Arcee, Jack, do you copy?_" Ratchet commed them.

"Roger! We're on Cybertron!" the boy replied.

"_Just keep the sightseeing to a minimum, huh_?" Bulkhead advised the duo.

"_Indeed. We don't know if your journey ahead is 5 klicks or 5000_," Ratchet added.

"Understood," Arcee nodded. "We're out."

Jack took out his key. "Ratchet said the key will guide me there, but I don't know..." his sentence cut short as the key card began to glow brightly. As the boy swiped the key around, it glowed brighter in one direction.

"There you go," the femme transformed to motorcycle. Jack hoped on and they sped off in the direction.

* * *

"This could be a while," Bulkhead remarked.

Then much to their surprise, a radio came in. "_Space Bridge Control, do you read me?_" it was Breakdown's voice. "_Space Bridge Control, this is Breakdown. Your status report is overdue."_

"Scrap..." Bulkhead coughed before he was about to answer.

"Bulkhead, don't! He will recognize your voice!" Ratchet stopped the green bot.

"I could make it lower..." the green bot wasn't convincing. "Higher?" still not.

"He will recognize mine as well..." Ratchet pondered, they were out of option as Bumblebee couldn't speak at all.

"_Come in, Space Bridge Control! Don't make me come down there and dent some engine blocks!_" the Decepticon demanded.

"_Somebody says something, pronto!" _Fowler spoke next.

It gave Ratchet an idea. "Rafael, patch in Agent Fowler!"

* * *

"_You have one nano-cycle to respond before I..._!"

"This is Space Bridge Control, situation normal."

"_Normal? You sure about that_?" Breakdown asked further.

"We were just…calibrating the sub-systems and, we, uh, had a surge. But it's fine now. How are you?" Fowler asked, but he finally realized that he already slipped out. He exchanged horror look with Miko and Rafael.

"_Uh, uh…never better. I know it's thankless down there. Keep up the good work, huh?_"

"Will do. Control out," Fowler let out a huge sigh of relief after that.

* * *

In the Nemesis, Orion just found something strange with Decepticon database.

"Why would the Decepticon archives be so heavily encrypted?" Orion asked himself.

He suspected that the Decepticon hid something from him. The red mech brought back the image of Optimus Prime from before. It too, was encrypted. But it was no big problem for him to bring out the real deal. So, Orion typed several keys, and the encrypted image started to disperse and finally revealing its true image.

Which made Orion widened his eyes in disbelief. "How could I possibly be...Optimus Prime?!"

* * *

But Orion's action was noticed by Soundwave and Megatron. The Decepticon tyrant growled in frustration, as the secret was finally out.

"Even our encryptions couldn't keep him from the truth," Megatron growled. "Orion has much to accomplish. And he will stay the course. But if I must inflict great pain to ensure the completion of Project Iacon…"

* * *

"Miko..." back in Autobot base, Aria could feel that her life was slipping away. Her pigtail friend didn't leave her bed side even for one second.

"Please, you can't die, Aria..." Miko whispered. "Optimus will be back in any hours! You surely will love to take a ride together with him again. And after that, you and I and Bulkhead will go to monster truck rally and street race. And after that...I will treat you for chocolate brownies...that you love so much..." the girl couldn't hide her tears. It was too much for her, her best friend was about to die in any minutes.

"You're my best friend Miko, you are always be..." Aria smiled with her pale face, her hand reached out to wipe out Miko's tears. "But in the end, there's nothing I can do to repay all of your kindness all this time..."

"No need, there's no need. I just want you to be at my side...!" Miko buried her head on the bed. "You...you can't be serious about this! You will live, won't you?!"

"If it's truly my end, I shall be with Arianna again..." Aria looked up to the ceiling. "In fact, I'm always one step left behind. I haven't truly grasped everything that Parthonus left behind. I just found out about it when it's already too late..."

"What do you mean...?"

"All Primes, including my father, received not only wisdom of Primus. Parthonus also granted them something to carry inside their Matrixes..." the ponytail paused. "The precious inheritance of the Saint Protector...the heart."

"Heart? Do you mean spark in bot terms?" Miko frowned.

"It's not only for supporting life. It's a thing full of love and kindness..."

"Okay, so what's the relation about it..." suddenly, it hit Miko. "Do you mean..this thing can...?"

"But in order to do so, we need a Prime..." Aria sighed in defeat. "For that, I'm afraid I won't have the chance. My time is ticking out..."

"You...okay seriously! You are half metal, a big girl!" Miko cried out. "Are you trying to tell me that you want to give up after all this time?! Before you can see Optimus?"

"...Fate is different thing Miko..." for the first time in her live, Aria felt so hopeless, and helpless. "In the end...you have to accept your time limit. Myself isn't an exception for that."

* * *

Jack and Arcee felt like they were getting closer.

"We're heading towards Kaon," Arcee confirmed.

"The Decepticon capital. Swell," Jack said sarcastically.

They arrived at the gate of the city. Arcee stopped in the front. "We're on foot from here," and she immediately deployed her blaster. "Don't want engine noise to attract the wrong kind of attention," she began to look out for any suspicious thing.

"'Cons?" Jack guessed.

"Vermin," Arcee replied, then she confirmed that the situation was safe. "This way." Both of them walked on top of a bridge. Oblivious to them, under their feet, a stasis pod was opened. A creature with bug-like characteristic stretched its limbs, before crawling its way. It already sensed something was coming, and soon would become the prey.


	5. The Heart of Wisdom

_"It is better to risk starving to death than surrender. If you give up on your dreams, what's left?"_

_Jim Carrey_

* * *

Arcee and Jack made their way very carefully to the center of Kaon. That place really belonged to Decepticon, as they spotted a statue of Megatron standing proudly in the center. Then, as they approached it, the ground started to shake. The ground cracked up, and a building shaped in triangle emerged up. As Jack approached it, the door opened sensing the presence of the key.

"Vector Sigma is...down here...?" Jack asked.

"Kaon didn't always belong to the Decepticons. Megatron took it as a capital. Apparently, without realizing what lied beneath their feet," Arcee said, before she felt something was above their heads.

It was the insect bot from before. He was on the top of building, and immediately jumped to the duo. Arcee hurriedly grabbed the teen boy and dodged the attack. She brought out her blaster and shot at the creature. The insect spotted Arcee's Autobot insignia, and so made her as main target. He jumped on Arcee and crashed her to the wall.

"Arcee!" Jack cried out.

The insect bot turned around and saw the key card on the boy's hand. Immediately, he turned his attention to the boy, but not for long as Arcee intercepted.

"We're being attacked by some kind of...giant bot beetle!" Jack reported back.

* * *

"An Insecticon!" Ratchet realized it.

"What are Decepticons doing on Cybertron?" Raf asked.

"A few remained. In stasis. Sentries, should the enemy return," Ratchet explained to them.

* * *

Arcee was having hard time with the Insecticon.

"Jack, you have to go ahead!" Arcee urged the boy as she fired more shots at the drones.

"Seriously?" Jack was reluctant to leave his partner alone.

* * *

"Without Arcee? She's his guide!" June protested.

"No, Nurse Darby. Arcee is Jack's backup, the key card is his guide," Ratchet replied.

* * *

"Go Jack!" Arcee ordered.

"_Listen to her, Jack. You've made it this far, Optimus and Aria are counting on you,"_ June advised.

Jack immediately remembered for what reason he was there. Although reluctant, he stepped backward and entered the building. As soon as he was inside, the door was shut, eventually separating the boy from his guardian.

* * *

Megatron was entering Orion's work station once again.

"Have you made progress with Project Iacon?" Megatron asked casually.

"It seems I am a bit rustier than I thought," Orion tried to make a reason, which was less convincing.

"Might that have anything to do…with your after-hours research?" Megatron already knew it, as he pressed a button and brought back every files the red mech had read before. "Did I fail to mention that we would be tracking your activities?"

"Why does history portray me siding with the Autobot aggressors? And why did Starscream call me a Prime? I must know, who am I?" Orion decided to ask directly.

"You are my clerk," Megatron answered. "Now get back to work and decode that database."

"No. I would rather erase my findings than make them available for your questionable use," Orion knew that Megatron that he once knew wasn't the same person anymore. If the Decepticon leader had bad intention in him, Orion wasn't going to let him. He clicked one button and erased all of his findings.

But Megatron was far smarter than he thought. With a click, he brought back all the findings. "So that's how you want to play. Did you really think that we wouldn't be tracking AND documenting every iota of your valuable research?"

Orion was in dilemma, when Soundwave entered the room with news for his leader.

"One of our sentries was activated…on Cybertron?" Megatron intrigued.

That alone revealed another secret to Orion. "You told me our planet was dead!" he demanded further.

"That is beside the point!" Megatron decided to use force. "You will finish Project Iacon by the time I return or I will carve your spark before your very eyes!" he unsheathed his sword in front of Optimus' eyes, the Decepticon didn't play tricks with his words.

* * *

Arcee was still fighting with the Insecticon. She leapt here and there, but the bug was just too sturdy. The Insecticon transformed to bug mode, and slammed Arcee to the wall. Finally, she was knocked down unconscious.

The bug bot proceeded to rip open the door, and flew inside Vector Sigma.

* * *

Jack was walking through the very long hallway inside Vector Sigma. Well, the hallway for Cybertronian size, that was. The boy couldn't help but feeling nervous as he was walking alone inside the dark place. But, he reminded himself that he had to do the thing, and kept moving forward. In middle of quietness, he could heard something, like crawling. Jack felt like he once heard something like that before. The boy turned around, and grabbed a metal bar for his protection.

He continued to advance until he stumbled upon another door. This one also opened by the key card, and it led to very big chamber inside. Jack knew, it must be it. ""Hey, everyone. I'm in," Jack reported to his team. He walked to the center of the chamber. The center of it glowed brightly, so did the key card. Jack placed the key on it, the key returned to its normal size in mere seconds.

The boy yelped in surprise as the place he stood moving. As it began to lift 90 degrees, Jack jumped to the floor. Then, a very bright, blue orb emerged behind the download port. "This is...wow...!" he stared in awesomeness. He saw as the download port began to work. "Commencing download...I think..." he reported.

* * *

"Sweet!" Miko cheered from the other side.

Fowler glanced at June, his eyes reassured the nurse that her son was a great boy.

Aria could hear it from her bed, Jack finally managed to get to the vital part. She sighed in relief, it meant that their mission was more than halfway. "_For my father, not for me..."_ she closed her eyes again. The ponytail checked over her pulse monitor, there were only two spikes there.

"_Do you think this is really the end...?"_

She widened her eyes in surprise. Aria glanced around the room, she saw no one else. But, she was sure that she heard the voice that she missed greatly. The voice of her sister, that was. "Arianna...?" she called out weakly.

_"Giving up that easy, it is not really like you, Aria..." _

"I tried not to, sis..." Aria said mentally. "...But, my time really is up..."

_"Now, nobody told you that. In fact, you are not the one who can tell that. Our father needs you at his side, once he comes back..."_

"Father..." her father's face flashed through her processor.

"_Now, if you give up, you will see his crying face. Do you really want to see him grieving over you, Aria?"_

"No...I don't want to see him being sad..."

"_That's right, he also doesn't want to see you suffering. Not only him, but also everyone around you, the ones whom you developed close bond with. Try to remember, why you came into their lives in first place..."_

Aria reflected back at her days working with mafia organization. It was a terrible past which she didn't want to repeat again. That tragic life left a very deep scar on her heart. But after she started a life with the Autobots, she barely remembered that she had very rough past. They made her forget of the pain of the past, showering her with love and friendship. It was the thing that she couldn't be more thankful.

"_Better life aside, I want to live as my own self..."_ those were the words she said when she was about start a new life. The ponytail finally remembered, why she chose to stay with the Autobots in first place. Because she wanted to be something useful. She wanted to prove that she wasn't a killing machine anymore. She wanted to use her power, inherited by Arianna, to protect the ones whom she loved, and loved her.

"_It's the love that you certainly don't want to give up, right...?"_

"Right..." Aria murmured. She heard the transmission from Jack, that he managed to get inside Vector Sigma. Aria recalled that every member of the team was working hard, in order to bring their leader back. Soon, regret and shame filled Aria's spark. All of her friends were making effort in their parts, when she wasn't doing anything useful.

* * *

Back on Nemesis, Orion was working on Project Iacon, and being heavily guarded by Decepticon drones. The red mech was reluctant to resume the decoding.

"No one tell you to stop, Pax!" one drone pointed his cannon to Orion.

"...I believe Megatron intends to use whatever he finds in Project Iacon to harm the Autobots..." Orion somehow got the feeling that the Autobots were the one in distress, not Decepticons as Megatron previously said. He tried to bargain with the soldiers... "Please, we can warn him..."

Only to receive a punch in his stomach, and being pummeled down by the drones. Orion knew that he was in trouble with no escape.

* * *

Aria felt the sensation on her body, she immediately knew that her father was in pain. "Father..." she murmured in very worried tone. She tried to deny it, but she could feel that Optimus was in distress.

"_I swear upon my title as Prime, that I would not let any harm happens to you, my dear..."_

Aria reflected back upon the fatherly oath Optimus once said to her. She too, already promised that she would protect the last Prime, even if it costed her life. Optimus would sacrifice anything, in order to keep her safe. Aria too, would do the same. "Father is in danger...!" she found a strength to get up from the stretcher.

The group on monitor soon heard the sound of Aria walking. "Aria...?" June couldn't believe her eyes, as the ponytail managed to get up. She forced her legs to walk limply to the platform. "You shouldn't get up!" June proceeded to climb the stair down and support the half Autobot.

"Raf...open the GroundBridge to the energon mine...!" Aria called out.

"What are you trying to do, kid?" Fowler asked.

"Providing back up..." the girl replied.

"But, you are...unhealthy!" Rafael avoided the word 'dying'.

"He's right, Ratchet and the others are in standby. Jack also almost gets the job done," Fowler insisted.

"Spending time on bed is also unhealthy, Agent Fowler," Aria replied, determination filled her words. "I'm one of armed member on this team, I should be in field, not in bed...!" but after that, she collapsed on her knees as another pain attacked her spark. "Scrap...!"

* * *

Jack was rather impatient as the download wasn't finished yet. "This is...taking a while..." he said.

"_Of course it is! We are talking about the collective wisdom of the Primes!_" Ratchet said through the comm link.

Jack waited for more, until he heard a screeching sound from behind. As the boy turned around, he gasped to see a bunch of tiny monster critters swarmed to his place. He was out of danger, but the download port wasn't.

"_What is it Jack?"_

"Scraplets!" Jack replied in frantic.

"_What's a Scraplet?!"_

* * *

"Why did it have to be Scraplets?!" Bulkhead grunted in panic.

"If they chew through Vector Sigma before the Matrix fully reload..." Ratchet stated.

But a sound of GroundBridge opening interrupt them. "So Vector Sigma is more than legend..." much to everyone's shock, Megatron stepped out. "You Autobots have done impressively to recover your leader. Be assured, I should never underestimate you again...!" he walked closer to the group. "Now, I assume the one called Arcee would be stepping through that portal with the fully reloaded Matrix of Leadership in hand..."

"We hold the Space Bridge at all cost!" Ratchet and the two were prepared to combat Megatron. They knew that they had little chance winning over the gladiator, even though they were in group. But, they had to do it. Ratchet unsheathed his knifes when Bulkhead and Bumblebee deployed their cannons. The duo started to fire to Megatron.

Megatron was right when he said he wouldn't underestimate the Autobots again. He dodged all the fires, charged forward and tossed Bulkhead like nothing. He next proceeded to pummel down Ratchet and Bumblebee with ease.

* * *

Arcee finally regained consciousness, as she woke up, she found a Scraplet chewing on her foot. She just blew that one easily with her blaster. "Jack...?" she looked around, and find the door of Vector Sigma was ripped open, presumably by the Insecticon. She immediately transformed to motorcycle and raced in.

Jack was still having hard time with the Scraplets. He tried to sweep them away, but there were too many. He had this horror look as the sound of downloading process was dying down. "No no no no, don't quit now!" he yelled in frustration. Jack then heard buzzing sound from the hallway. He first thought it was Arcee, but it was the Insecticon.

"Back off, bug!" he yelled out. But the Insection seemed to be frightened once looking at the download port. Jack immediately knew it was because of Scraplets. He grabbed one... "Hey guys! The main course!" and threw it to the Insecticon. Pretty soon, the others followed suit, and they started to chew the bug bot. The Insecticon slipped off the bridge and fell to the bottomless pit together with the Scraplets.

Jack saw the key card glowed brighter as it finished downloading. He recovered the key card, just as Arcee came by. "I have the Matrix," the boy flashed the key.

"Let's roll!" Arcee said.

"Wait, there's something I really want to find..." Jack held her. "Ratchet said that this place is a resting place for the Saint, right?"

"Yeah, I think he said something like that, why?" the blue motorcycle asked.

"You know, Aria is running out of time. We might not be able to do anything about it, but maybe..." Jack trailed.

"Maybe the dead Saint can do something to cure her?" Arcee finished. She sighed deeply. "Jack, I know we have to look to every possibility, but this isn't included as possibility..."

"What's that?" Jack cut in. "I think I saw a white light from there..." he pointed to the hallway where they came from.

"Really?"

The duo decided to examine it and walked back to the hallway. But as they exited the chamber, something wasn't right. The hallway they walked in wasn't the same as what they came from before. Somehow, they ended up in a very luxury and brand new hallway, not a rusty and dark place like before. The place itself was colored in white.

"What...what's happening...?" Jack looked around.

"I don't think we've passed this hallway before..." Arcee was also confused.

They were startled by a very bright white light appeared before them. As the light died down a bit, they saw a femme in white armor hovering in front of them.

"Who are you?" Arcee stood protectively in front of Jack.

_"My name is Parthonus..._" the femme spoke with very beautiful voice for any standard.

"Parthonus...the Saint?!" Jack and Arcee were dumbfounded. They didn't expect to meet with the late Saint for real.

* * *

"Ratchet, Bulkhead, Bee, can anyone read me? What's happening there?!" Rafael tried to contact any of the Strike Team, but there was no response.

"Dude, I got bad feeling about this..." Fowler was worried.

Aria too, had very bad feeling. When no one of her teammates answered, she knew there was a big trouble. Having enough, she transformed to her Autobot mode, and proceeded to open the GroundBridge herself. She had to come to help.

"Aria wait!" June chased the big girl. "You can't do this! Your life will be in danger!"

"My life already is, Nurse Darby," the sea-green femme looked to the nurse, and the others who stared at her in very worried look.

"Are you sure about this, girl?" Fowler asked.

"Very sure," Aria nodded, as she ran, or rather staggered to the portal. Her legs were giving in, even though her spirit wasn't yet. She repeatedly tripped in middle of the GroundBridge portal. "Just work at least this once, will you...?" she said to her own legs. Aria wasn't about to give up, as she tried to get up once again.

Her father was in danger, her teammates were in trouble. Even though her life was about to end, she wasn't going to let it end without any worth.

"I...am...!" she slowly put her feet back together. "_NOT GOING DOWN WITHOUT A FIGHT!"_ she found a strength to dash and run. Her spark was beating rapidly, she was very, very worried of one reason. She could feel that someone was beating her body, but physically not. Aria knew, someone she cared about was the one being beaten.

* * *

Orion still refused to continue decoding, which made the drones beating him non stop. And he, didn't have the chance to fight back.

"You know, it's an honor to beat down the former Autobot leader," one drone spoke as he pointed his blaster to the red mech.

"No...please stop...!" in order to protect himself, he unconsciously deployed his blasters, and shot down the drones. "I am...armed...?"

* * *

When Aria finally arrived at the mine, she had this horror look. Megatron was there, and all three of the Autobots were knocked down. "MEGATRON!" she screamed in pure rage.

Megatron perked up, and pretty surprised to see the girl. "Well, well, well, Aria..." he turned his attention. "Finally you make your appearance. What a good girl, your father must be very proud of you."

"What have you done to him...?!" the girl was having difficulty to stand up straight. She could feel it, Optimus was still in peril. "I promise, if you ever lay your dirty hands on my father..."

"Since the beginning, I had no intention of harming him. We had a history after all," Megatron replied. "But well, even without his Prime status, he is not the one I can underestimate easily. He is just too...unpredictable..."

"GIVE HIM BACK TO US!" Aria yelled out.

"And if I do not...?" Megatron challenged.

"Then I will make you to!" Aria unsheathed her blades, she was determined to give the Decepticon leader some lessons.

"Still pretending to be tough, are you not, the reincarnation of Parthonus the White?" the Decepticon tyrant mocked. "Even though I can barely sense that kind of power from you right now. You seem...unfit for fight at this situation. I am not the type who will harm a young sparkling after all..."

"Really? Then what about the Autobot sparklings you murdered when you abducted Arianna?" Aria hissed. "Don't think I'm going to buy all of your trick answers. You are not the one to be trusted."

Megatron raised his optic ridge, the daughter of Optimus wasn't to be underestimated as well. That girl had the quality of Prime, albeit more aggressive. "You really want me to put you on top of this pile over here...?" he referred to the three downed Autobots.

"I've been in far worse than this, believe me..." but the sea-green femme wasn't about to back down.

* * *

"Where are we anyway...?" Arcee asked to Parthonus.

"_This is my chamber, this is not a place for mere mortals be inside. Only the ones who inherited my blood and the Primes have access to this place. However, I summoned both of you here, the bearers of the Matrix..." _Parthonus answered.

"Why...?" Arcee asked.

"That matters aside!" Jack interfered. "Our friend, her name is Aria. She's a White Cybertronian just like you, and her life is in danger...!"

_"I know, it is my duty to watch over all of my heirs throughout their lives..."_

"Then, why did you abandon her?" Arcee asked next. "You know what, she's dying because you pulled away your ability from her."

_"The Fourth, as well as the other Whites, inherit my blood and powers. However, how she is about to use it, is out of my capabilities. That girl will carve her own path in the life..."_

"The Fourth, you mean Aria...?" Jack asked.

"So...can you tell me if her life can be saved?" the blue femme asked again.

"_As long as you have Heart of Wisdom, it shall be happening..."_

"Heart of Wisdom? What's that?" Jack asked.

"_The most precious thing I left behind for the disciples of Primus, in order for all my heirs to continue their duty, protecting the Primes..."__  
_

"Okay, so where is this Heart of Wisdom?" Arcee asked eagerly.

_"Look no more, soldier. The Heart of Wisdom lies beneath every spark of living Primes, but not all acknowledged the presence of the watchful eyes inside..."_

"You mean, Optimus carried that thing all this time, inside his chassis?" Arcee widened her eyes.

"_Heart of Wisdom has a duty to watch over the bearer. I gave the Primes the Heart, so I can watch them over, and acknowledge the presence of danger near them."_

"You mean, like alarm system? They are in danger, you know it, and you come?" Jack clarified.

"_Not only me, the Fourth also has the ability to watch over the Heart. The Heart itself will be the one to restore the life of the Fourth back to normal."_

"Okay, so all we need to do is locate Optimus and bring him back, so he can use this Heart of Wisdom to save Aria?" Arcee asked.

"_No, the Heart alone is not enough. The power of a living Prime is needed to bring out the wisdom inside them."_

"In other words, we have to restore Optimus' memory first so he can return back as Prime," Jack summed.

"_I summoned both of you here in order to entrust you with this important task..."_ Parthonus inched closer to the duo. "_Restore the Matrix of Leadership, and use the Heart of Wisdom to restore the Fourth."_

"Okay, but if we have to..." Jack wanted to say something, but as he blinked his eyes, Parthonus was gone altogether with the white hall. "Arcee...?"

"We're back, it seems..." Arcee looked her surrounding, they were back in the previously, rusty and dark hallway. "Okay, we now possess the way to save Aria's life. Let's hurry, we don't have much time!" Arcee was in tense, they possessed the Matrix to restore Optimus' memory. But locating the Prime was another story.

They immediately sped to the Space Bridge portal. They didn't have time to spare.

"Arcee, back then Parthonus said, Aria is the Fourth White..." Jack stated.

"That Saint already reincarnated several times, alright. No wonder if there were First, Second, and so on," Arcee commented.

"But, Ratchet said there were only two White Cybertronians existing in the past. If we counted Parthonus and Aria in, that makes three..." Jack pondered. "But, if Aria is the Fourth, then who is the Third?"

Arcee also didn't have answer for that.

* * *

Aria knew that she couldn't even go toe-to-toe with Megatron at her dying state. She was battered down by the Decepticon leader. Her spirit was the only one making her standing up again.

"You are rather resilient, for a sparkling..." Megatron said.

"Give me everything you've got...!" Aria hissed, but she collapsed on her knees. Aria realized that her time was almost up.

"Now, it will be much better, if you just let me put you out of your misery," Megatron walked closer to her, and pointed his fusion cannon to her. "In my way, no less. And after that, I shall go after Arcee, so I can put the end the lenience of Prime."

That was it, the sea-green femme was going down. "_At least I have given my good fight..."_ she thought.

Megatron's action was interrupted by the arrival of Orion through the GroundBridge. "Stay away from her, Megatron!" he declared.

Aria widened her eyes in disbelief. Finally, after two months of waiting, she was able to see him. "Father...!" she whispered out.

"Why you even bother, Pax? This girl is just nothing for you," Megatron said. "And, you are not a Prime!"

"That may be true, or yet another deception, but this much I do know, my sympathies lie with the Autobots, and you are _not_ one of us!" Orion said as he deployed his weapons and charged at Megatron, despite having no skill.

Of course, Megatron just thwarted the amnesiac Autobot with ease. "You still have much to learn, Orion!" he shouted as he was about to chop the red mech.

"NO!" Aria sprung into action, she jumped and kicked Megatron aside. The instinct to protect her father gave her a newfound strength. "Father...!" then she tried to help Orion standing up. "Thank goodness, are you alright...?"

"You...I'm sorry, but who are you...?" Orion stared at the girl weirdly. "And, why did you call me your father...?"

Aria's spark sank in as she realized that Orion wasn't regaining his memory yet. But, the fact that her father was alright, relieved her.

"Are you...Arianna...?" Orion asked again. "You...you are just too similar..."

Aria widened her eyes, he did still remember his daughter, although it wasn't her.

"Megatron said you were dead, killed by Ratchet..."

"WHAT?!" now Aria was shocked to the core. It was true that Arianna was already dead, but not being killed by Ratchet. "What the...?" then it dawned to her, Megatron must've played some tricks at the amnesiac Autobot. It angered the sea-green femme in instant. That was it, she would teach the bucket head some very nice lessons. "No...!" her vision started to go blurry again.

Megatron was about to attack again, until Arcee jumped through the Space Bridge and shot the Decepticon leader away.

"Miss Arcee...!" Aria called out, then she spotted Jack following through.

Jack flashed the Matrix, and Orion widened his eyes in surprise.

"Are you...certain I am worthy?" the red mech asked.

"You have no idea," Jack then transferred the Matrix to Orion's chassis.

"That's good..." Aria watched in awe. It would be finished in no time, and she was still alive. Perhaps she would have her chance. But, she heard a loud crash from behind, Megatron thwarted Arcee aside, and was about to interfere for sure. Aria forced her legs to stand up once again. "You are not going through!"

Ratchet too, recovered a bit and he tried to prevent Megatron, only to be tossed aside again. Aria was the only remaining barrier left for the Decepticon, a very fragile barrier. He aimed his fusion cannon, and shot a direct score to the half Autobot.

Orion, now Optimus, received back the key card on his hand. But, he was shocked as his daughter Aria, flying past him and crashing to nearby pillar. Her body was sparkling purple, fell down to the ground.

"ARIA!" Jack screamed out.

Megatron was about to strike with his blade, but it was caught by the red mech. "Megatron..." Optimus folded his battle mask. "_Be gone!"_ then he threw his most powerful punch to the Decepticon leader.

Optimus Prime was back.

Ratchet, Bulkhead, and Bumblebee regained consciousness and they saw in awe, as Optimus pummeled Megatron. He then sent his most awesome uppercut and sent Megatron flying few meters across. After tossing Megatron away, Optimus' mind focused on his daughter who was blasted few seconds earlier in front of him. "ARIA!" he rushed to her side and picked the sea-green femme.

Aria was conscious, barely. "Father..." she called out weakly. And after that, she shut her eyes, with a smile.

"Optimus!" Ratchet came by, and much to his horror, Aria was lying motionless on Optimus' arms. Her body sparked in purple, showing the sign of dark energon infection. But, the girl didn't scream in pain like she supposed to, she was just...not moving. "For Primus' sake...!" he briefly scanned the girl, and was shocked to find that Aria had no spark beat.

"Ratchet, how did we arrive here?" Optimus asked the medic.

"Long story old friend. Right now I have to get this girl back to the laboratory and revive her!" Ratchet took Aria on his arms.

Optimus' spark skipped a beat, revive?

* * *

"Base to Arcee, we read six Autobots life signal down there. Is Prime with you?" Fowler asked.

"_And Jack,"_ the blue femme confirmed.

"YES!" Miko exclaimed, when June just sighed in pure relief.

"_Send the GroundBridge immediately! Aria is down!"_ Ratchet frantically called.

"Wait...one signal is disappearing..." Rafael said as one of Autobots life signal blinked away. "It's Aria's!" he exclaimed in horror.

* * *

Optimus and the others fired their weapon to Megatron who was on his feet already.

Then a GroundBridge portal opened. "It's ours!" Arcee confirmed.

"Autobots, fall back!" Optimus ordered, with worry filled his spark for his daughter's safety. But, he had to hold Megatron long enough until all of his team managed to get back safely. Arcee and Jack went first, followed by Ratchet and Aria, Bumblebee, Bulkhead, and the very last, Optimus.

Megatron just roared in pure rage as the GroundBridge closed.

* * *

Back on Autobot base, the situation was in emergency. Ratchet tried his best to revive back Aria's spark beat. But it was no use. After the tenth times of try, the medic surrendered. "Forgive me..." he collapsed on his knees. "She is...gone..."

Aria's spark beat was flatlining.

"No way..." Arcee's voice was cracked. All of them were silent, even Miko was unable to put her usual antics. The three children had their faces wet by tears. They were all devastated. They managed to get Optimus back, but they lost one of their members.

But not as much as Optimus. He stared to the lifeless Aria with mixture of horror, shock, and sadness. "No..." he whispered. "Aria..." even he was still in denial, that he already lost his second daughter.

"I thought she still had the chance..." Bulkhead said regretfully.

"She indeed, still had the chance back then...if only Megatron did not deliver the killing blow..." Ratchet reported. "The dark energon blast attacked her already dying body..."

"Dying?" Optimus spun around. "What did you mean by dying...? What happened to Aria?"

"After Unicron's defeat two months ago, Aria started to lose her ability to produce white energon. It eventually cut her from the supply of much needed life support..." the medic explained. "Since then, her life span was limited only to months...that means, until today..."

"You know that fact, then why did you bring her to the mine?! When you know the fact that Megatron might show up at any time?!" Arcee snapped at her teammates.

"No Arcee," June interfered. "It was Aria herself who made that choice."

"Why...?" Bulkhead asked in regret. "I thought she trusted us to do the job...?!"

"Did you really think she was that kind of person? Letting her teammates waged the fight when she just sat here doing nothing?" Miko sobbed. "I know Aria, she didn't want to sit around. She wanted to do something."

"It was all my fault..." Arcee hung her head low. "If only I could do better to hold Megatron back..."

"Arcee, it's not..." Jack tried to reassure his guardian.

"It was my fault since the beginning! I promised Aria, that we would bring Optimus back before she passed! It was her last wish, yet I failed...!" Arcee replied sadly.

Optimus' spark sank after hearing that fact. "No..." he still couldn't remember what happened after he defeated Unicron, and before Jack restored his Matrix. He really wanted to slap himself, Aria's life was at stake, yet he wasn't on her side. Even though he already promised to protect the girl at any cost. But, he failed, and as the consequences, he lost his last daughter.

Without any chance for him to say any last words, just like Arianna. The last Prime walked closer to Aria's berth, and stroked her face. He failed, again. "_Forgive me, my dear daughter..."_


	6. The Third Chance, Third Awakening

_"Destiny is no matter of chance. It is a matter of choice. It is not a thing to be waited for, it is a thing to be achieved"_

_William Jennings Byran_

* * *

Optimus was still on Aria's deathbed, his hands clutched the limp and cold small hand of the girl. He held her as if the girl was his last life line. Aria was indeed his last lifeline, as Optimus' world crumbled apart in front of his eyes. His last daughter, whom the Prime couldn't afford to lose, was already gone.

"We were too late, after all..." Jack piped in. "When I thought we had the way to save her..."

"What do you mean?" Ratchet asked.

"Back in Vector Sigma, we stumbled upon Parthonus' soul," Arcee said.

"You met with the legendary Saint?!" Bulkhead exclaimed.

"Yeah, and she said something that lied beneath every Primes' spark, a Heart of Wisdom," the blue motorcycle explained. "It was the only thing that could restore Aria back to health. But now...everything had happened..."

"The Heart of Wisdom...?" Optimus repeated. He felt like he had heard that thing somewhere. Then, his mind went blank, and there was female voice inside his head.

_The disciple of Primus, summon the Heart inside your spark_

_There is no reason for you to give up yet_

"The Heart..." without realizing it, Optimus began to stand up. "_The Heart of Wisdom, I call upon you!" _

Suddenly, his chassis snapped open, something white in jewel-shape and two sets of wings flew out of his Matrix. The Heart then spun around like a bird, before making its way to Aria. As it arrived at the top of Aria's chassis, the Heart started to engulfed the dead girl in bright white light.

"Wow..." Jack and the others watched in awe as the Heart transferred its white aura to the sea-green femme.

* * *

"Where am I...?" Aria asked as she opened her eyes, she got herself in somewhere white.

"_I've been waiting for you..."_

_"Parthonus...?"_ the girl widened her eyes, as she was finally be able to meet eye-to-eye with her predecessor, the Saint.

"_For a long time, I've been watching over you, even before you came to the living world. I could sense the bright and kindness from your heart, and so I entrusted you with my power and blood, as the Fourth White..." _

"_Why me...?"_ the ponytail asked. "_I was a human from the beginning. Why not somebody else...?"_

_"It is not the matter of your origin, my child. The fact that you already surpassed my protection ability with your own power. Your sense of justice, love, and care, those were the ones that connected you to the last Prime, even if he lost the wisdom of Primus..." _Parthonus continued. "_The Heart of Wisdom only would connect you with a Prime. But you were connected to your beloved one not by the Heart I gave, but your own heart. That being said, I can safely entrust you with my duty in the living world."_

_"__Are you certain, that I'm worthy for this?" _Aria asked again._  
_

"_You are the one who will decide that, not me. Now, return to the world, fulfill the duty that I entrusted you with, and as well as your own wishes...Aria the Fourth."_

* * *

Optimus and the others couldn't believe what they saw, Aria's optics snapped open once she was back to the living world. Her eyes glowed white briefly before returning to normal blue. As the Heart finished restoring her health, the white light died down, and the jewel flew back inside Optimus' chassis.

The girl sat straight up, she first blinked her eyes, then lifted both of her hands. The sensation, it was the feeling that she didn't feel for two months. The feeling of life. Aria moved her hands back and forth, and found out the tiredness and heaviness were gone completely. She couldn't believe it.

"Aria...?"

Aria finally noticed that everybody and every bot was surrounding her. They had this disbelief look, as the dead girl was revived. And as she turned to her side, she saw the one whom she really wanted to be at her side forever. "Father...?" Aria could see the shock, disbelief, but also happiness in the Prime's eyes. "...I'm back..." she said with a smile.

"By the Allspark...!" Ratchet finally found his strength to speak. "This...this couldn't be happening...!"

Optimus didn't need to check if he was dreaming or not. Even if it was a dream, he really didn't want to miss it. Immediately, he wrapped his arms around his daughter's body, hugging her tightly as if he didn't want to let her go forever. "Thank the Primus..." he shut his optics, a huge wave of relief washed through his body.

"Father...I'm so sorry...for making you worried," Aria too, wrapped her hands on Prime's huge chest.

"No, I should be the one to apologize..." Optimus looked straight to Aria's eyes. "I have heard everything from Ratchet. It was never my intention to leave you alone at that kind of condition. But in fact, I did abandon you. Your suffering was all my fault..."

"It's not your fault, my father," Aria lifted her hand and stroked Optimus' face. "Because you know what, I don't fear death. I'm ready to sacrifice just everything for you..."

"No Aria, if you are gone, it would be the end for me...you are my precious daughter, my last family..." Optimus took the turn to stroke the sea-green's face. "It is my duty to watch over you, and keep you safe. I shall never fail yet again, my dear. You have my words."

"That goes the same for me too. I just want you to know, that for you I will never give up," she smiled. "Because I love you, father."

"I love you too, Aria..." Optimus replied softly.

Everyone there watched the heartwarming scene with smiles on their faces. Jack started to clap his hands, everyone else soon followed suit, to celebrate the reunion, real reunion.

"Miss Arcee!" Aria finally was able to greet her teammates. "Are you alright? You're not hurt, right?"

"I'm all good, don't worry..." Arcee sighed. "You scared the living out of me, though."

"We thought you were gone for real," Bulkhead said. "Just what happened? I don't get it, really!" he turned to receive a beep from Bumblebee, who also had no idea the slightest.

"I can explain, if you really want it," the half Autobot replied back.

"I think...I'll pass it..." Bulkhead waved it off, as he knew there would be mumbo jumbo that he couldn't understand better.

"Aria!" Miko, Rafael, and Jack ran to Aria's metal leg.

"Hey guys!" Aria crouched and scooped all three children in her embrace. "Oh, I miss you so much!" she snuggled to the children like a plush toy.

"Ow...thanks for the hug..." Jack was unnerved by Aria snuggling her metal face to their human faces.

"So, how are you feeling now...?" Rafael asked.

"Much better!" Aria exclaimed.

"Told you, she's a big girl," Miko knocked to Aria's face lightly. "Second to me, of course."

"Who said that, I'm bigger than you now, Miko," the sea-green femme retorted.

"Size doesn't always matter, Aria. In terms of inner side, I won't lose to anybody!" the pigtail girl challenged.

"Really, still a little girl, are you not? Play with your plush toys like that," Fowler commented.

"I am not a little girl, no matter what size I come with," with that, Aria put the children back to the floor, and transformed back to human mode.

"We should celebrate this!" Miko cheered up. "I'll bring my guitar and there would be rock star in matter of seconds!"

"Well, that's nice of you Miko, but I have something else in mind," Aria waved off, as she turned to see Optimus. "With my father, that is."

* * *

It had been a while since the father and daughter spent a moment together. Optimus took Aria to the place where they used to sit and watched the view. "Aria, I still advised you to go through Ratchet's examination first," Optimus said. "You were, after all, being hit by Megatron's attack back then."

"I already ate Megatron's dark energon blasts for numerous times now. Trust me, I'm already resilient to it," Aria rested her head on Optimus' thigh. "I'm all good. After all, this is the thing that I've been waiting for a long time," the ponytail paused. "You know, father, it was just two months, but it felt like a millennia to me. At the same time, it also felt like mere minutes, because my life clock was ticking way too fast back then..."

Optimus sighed sadly. "Aria, I..."

"Don't, father," the girl stopped as she knew what he was about to say. "I already said, it wasn't your fault since the start. I was the one who threw the temper tantrum inside Unicron's body. I drained my own life force, so it was all my responsibility."

"...I just want to say, thank you," Optimus continued.

Aria jerked up her head and looked straight to her father.

"Even with the death presented in front of your eyes, you still thought of myself. Even though, I was not sure if I even remembered about you, when I was with Megatron..." Optimus continued.

"Oh about that!" Aria just remembered something. "I didn't know what Megatron had been playing with you up there. But, he is certainly the stinky one!" she spat out. "Well, back inside the mine, you and I met each other, but you didn't remember anything about me. You did, remember about Arianna though..."

"I did?" the last Prime widened his eyes.

"Yes, you called me Arianna, not surprise since I looked like my sister after all..." Aria then raised her voice. "But you said that, Megatron told you Arianna was dead, killed by Ratchet out of anybody else!"

"Ratchet...? It was not what happened..." Optimus whispered in disbelief.

"I know, we both know it better than anybody else," the ponytail sighed heavily. "But the next time I put my eyes on that scrap bucket head, I will just tear out his voice box so he can no more speak lies to anybody."

"He picked the title 'Decepticon' not for nothing, Aria. Megatron is in his element when it comes to deception," the Prime commented.

"And when it comes to gladiator fight, yeah," the girl commented back. "...Whew, it's so much fun!" she rested her head on the thigh again. "Father, there will be no better moments than this."

"I agree, my dear. All I ever wish, was for you to stay at my side..." Optimus showed his smile, and glanced at the open desert. It was the greatest miracle for the Prime, having his beloved daughter back. He was given a third chance, he didn't know until how long he could keep it. However, he swore to himself, that he wouldn't fail it yet again.

* * *

The entire Nemesis was in tense situation. Megatron came back there with anger after losing his grasp from Optimus. The rage of the Decepticon leader spread out to the entire warship. Which made all the soldiers there didn't dare to even come closer to Megatron's quarter.

"This is not the first time him being in this mood," Airachnid commented to Breakdown.

"Well, wanna make a bet on how long Lord Megatron would be in this state?" the blue truck asked.

"For this time, I'm sure it will be longer than a stellar cycle..." the spider bot commented again.

Meanwhile, Knock Out was busy in his quarter, with his capsule project. "After all the fuss, finally I have my spare time to do my personal project..." he said as he drilled one more time to the sealed capsule. And finally, after so much attempts, the capsule was cracked open. Knock Out immediately ripped it open, as he was filled with too much curiosity. "Now, what we have here...?" his smile died down, as he uncovered what was inside.

An unconscious human boy was lying inside the capsule. His hair was brown in color, and he was dressed in black rubber suit.

"A human kid...? What is a boy doing inside this thing...?" Knock Out pondered aloud. "Is he even alive...?" the red medic was about to check over the boy, until... "OHPRIMUSOHSCRAPWHATONPIT?!" he was shocked out of his spark, as the boy's eyes snapped open, revealing a pair of brown eyes, with a tint of red shade in the pupil.

* * *

Inside Vector Sigma, Parthonus was still inside her secret chamber. She could sense it, that another story of a living one was about to begin.

_"The Third has awakened..." _she merely whispered.

* * *

More OCs will come forward. Review please :3


	7. The Boy with Red Eyes

"_When dealing with people, remember you are not dealing with creatures of logic, but creatures of emotion"_

_Dale Carnegie_

* * *

Two days had passed since Optimus was back and Aria being revived. Everything pretty much was back to normal situation. In the early morning, Optimus walked to the command center as usual. He looked around to see that almost everyone was there, including the children.

"What do you think we shall have for this weekend, Raf?" Jack asked.

"Well, there's a science fair in Nevada that I really want to go," Rafael responded.

"Ow, you will get another earful from Miko then..." Jack chuckled. "Oh, Optimus! You're feeling okay today?"

"I am thankful for your concern, Jack," Optimus smiled to the boy. "It is all thanks to you who braced to unknown territory, that I can be here today."

"Oh, not again..." Jack blushed. "You'd better thank Arcee for that, she was the one who did all the smashing, and I just took cover behind as usual..."

_So low for a hero, huh_? Bumblebee spoke.

"That's Jack alright," Rafael stated.

"Optimus, has you regained anything of your memory when you were held captive?" Ratchet approached the leader.

"No, I'm afraid not..." Optimus shook his head sadly. For past two days, he tried his best to remember it, but just couldn't. "Speaking of, where is Aria?" he looked around to find his daughter wasn't there.

"In training room with Arcee, Bulkhead, and Miko," Ratchet responded.

Optimus widened his eyes, Aria was just back from death and she already blew out more steams?

"Be assured, old friend. Aside from dark energon residue and minor injuries, she's in perfect health. The Heart of Wisdom gifted by the Saint already did the very majestic job. Even I still couldn't believe of what I witnessed two days ago," Ratchet reflected back to the event when Aria was brought back to life. In anybody's logical mind, a dead one shouldn't be back alive again.

"We still have too much to catch up with the Ancients, Ratchet," Optimus stated. He then decided to go to training room as well, to make sure that Aria was alright.

* * *

Inside training room, Aria was trying something unusual. She was in Autobot mode, and sealed herself within a white force field. "It really took a toll of me to finally bring this out at this big size, you know," she said.

"I thought you no longer had access to that ability, after Unicron's end," Arcee asked.

"Hidden yes, but not out of reach. The ability is still inside me, Miss Arcee. Back then when Parthonus was awakened in my body, she made it very easy for me. But since she was gone already, it's all up to me to dig all her ability out," Aria said. "And, it's more difficult than I thought."

"Practice makes perfect," Miko commented.

"Right, you just need to do some work out," Bulkhead added.

"Which is why, I asked for your help to test my new version of force field," the half Autobot said. "Miko, you ready?"

"Ready to go!" Miko held up a baseball bat.

"Then, bring it on," Aria then took defensive position. Well, her attacker was just a little girl with baseball bat, but she didn't want to take any chance. "Come on."

"Okay, roll out!" Miko then dashed forward and hit the force field as hard as she could. Then she repeated it again and again until the girl ran out of breath. But she hadn't managed to even scratch the barrier. "The...winner is...the white dome...!" she declared with panting and gasping. "You rock, big girl!"

"You've passed the test of being attacked by human," Arcee commented. "The real deal is how you can hold it against Cons' attack."

"I know, so Bulk, you're next!" Aria called. "Try to hit me with your super awesome wrecking ball, as hard as you can."

"Err...the last part wasn't in our plan, I thought we will have Arcee for next," the green bot was concerned. "I don't wanna hurt you, or Optimus will dent my engine block for that."

"He won't do such thing. Just come on, how many times do you get a chance of hitting a sitting duck?" Aria asked.

Bulkhead sighed, but then he brought out his wrecking ball.

"Start it with slow pace, Bulk," Arcee instructed.

"I know," with that being said, Bulkhead swung his ball as gentle as possible. He hit the force field but unable to penetrate it. He repeated it with increased pace, but still no avail.

"Bring it...!" Aria could feel the pressure on her force field, and she braced herself.

Apparently, Bulkhead was getting a little bit competitive, as for the third swung he gave it everything he'd got. Finally, he managed to break the barrier, and crashed the femme inside together with it. Thankfully, the girl already took defensive position, although she was sent flying to the wall. "Scrap...no!" Bulkhead was baffled.

"Aria!" Arcee and Miko rushed to the downed girl's side. "You okay?" the blue femme immediately checked her junior.

"Yeah...phew..." Aria was visibly wincing in pain. With Arcee's help, she was able to sit up.

"Bulkhead, I told you to do it slow!" Arcee snapped to the green bot.

"Uh, sorry...I was bit fired up in the last part," Bulkhead sheepishly said.

"It's okay..." Aria then heard a footstep heading to the training room. She recognized very well of that footsteps. "Father!" she called out happily as the red mech approached.

Optimus walked to the training room, and he was concerned as he saw Aria clutching her chest area. "Aria, what happened?" he rushed inside and checked over his daughter.

"Uh, boss, it was my fault..." Bulkhead confessed.

"Not Bulkhead, it was me who couldn't hold the force field strong enough," Aria cut in.

Optimus knew that Aria had been experimenting with her newfound ability since the day before. "Aria, putting yourself at risk when it is not really unnecessary, is not advisable."

"I know, sorry," Aria hung her head low, but surprised as her father picked and put her on his arms. "Father, what the...?"

"We are going to see Ratchet, you need medical attention," Optimus said as he walked out with Aria in tow.

"What a doting parent," Miko commented as the duo walked out of the training room.

"Can't be helped, Optimus had been paranoid about Aria recently," Arcee replied. "She had died once in front of his eyes after all..."

* * *

Back on Nemesis, Megatron and Knock Out were in their project.

"Lord Megatron, I've located the boogie," Knock Out said. "It is only one part though. Heavily guarded by human securities, easily thwarted by our force."

"Very well, shall we get our new comer his first time of job? I really want to see if he can be really useful for my cause," Megatron smirked.

* * *

"I would advise you thinking twice before going all out, Aria," Ratchet already finished tending to Aria's training injuries. "Remember, you are still in middle of recovering."

"Aw Ratch, can't you see that I'm perfect right now?" Aria whined. "That force field, if I managed to get complete hold of it, it shall be our trump card against the Cons. Isn't that just exciting?"

"My dear, our war is still on going, and we do have to have every possible source in order to turn the tide. However, I do not wish to rob my daughter out of her arsenal, and much needed youthful times," Optimus advised.

Aria was about to answer, until Fowler called them all of the sudden. "_Prime, we have situation with the Cons again_!"

"They really don't know when to sit down peacefully, huh," Bulkhead commented.

"Agent Fowler, what is the situation?" Optimus asked.

"_About 5 hours ago, they raided the top secret government research facility in Florida. Thankfully the lab was empty at the time of attack, so there was no casualties. But, something is really fishy about their action this time,"_ Fowler stated.

"What is it?" Optimus asked further.

"_They managed to hack into the computer system, and got a copy of Cyborg Organism Project 02 technical print. Your daughter's anatomy plan if you will,"_ the black agent explained further.

"My print?" Aria raised an eyebrow. "That thing still exist?"

"_When we confiscated everything that related to the experiments from the scientists, including the technical drawings for building a half machine half human. We stored the Project 02 print in heavily secured research lab, but well, it was busted easily by the Cons."_

"May I ask why did you still keep the print?" Aria got suspicious.

"_Government's choice was out of my capabilities, kid. Don't worry, I believe that our president won't try something you don't like,_" Fowler reassured.

"But the Cons will do something we absolutely don't like..." Arcee said. "I'm sure of it."

"When it is really sounded absurd, that Megatron will travel down on path like that..." Ratchet stated. "If he got his hands on something like that, there's no telling what he is going to do with it."

"I can give an example, building another kind of super weapon..." Miko spoke in.

"With the combination of human and machine," Bulkhead finished.

"They're trying to build another cyborg on their own?" Rafael asked.

"_Whatever they might have in mind, they don't have the full material yet,"_ Fowler cut in. "_For safety measures, the print was separated into two sections. One part was stored in Florida, the other was in US military lab, very close to our armed forces."_

"Which means, if they're planning on building what was written in the drawing..." Ratchet said.

"_They will go for the second part, no doubt about it. But, we still had no idea on when they're gonna strike. I already advised the military to strength up their security until we can get clear what is we dealing with,"_ Fowler said again. "_But since we're dealing with Cons, I want to ask for your cooperation."_

"Agent Fowler, as this case is involving the Decepticons, I strongly recommend that human military stay away from this," Optimus said. "And considering on the thing that is on risk, I would like to advise you to hand the second print to the Autobots. We can guard the print inside our computer system."

"_I already advised that to my higher ops, but he said that the print was made by humans, and therefore it should be kept by human as well. So, I'm afraid that you can't have the print."_

Optimus was loss at words. "Then, we will guard it in your condition. By any measure, we cannot let the Decepticons get full hold of the thing, if we are to avoid any kind of tragedy. Besides, the print contained the full secret of my daughter's biomechanics," he knew it, if the Decepticons did plan to create another cyborg, then another innocent human's life was in danger. What was more, the print was Aria's, meaning, Aria too was at stake. _  
_

"_It means, your bots and my boys will have to take turns in guarding the military lab. How about that?"__  
_

"We are more than glad to do that, Agent Fowler," Aria spoke in, surprising the others.

_What? _Bumblebee asked.

"Well, I really don't want the Cons to take a peek on my full anatomy, you know," Aria replied.

* * *

With that, the Autobots agreed to act as additional security on US military lab that night. Optimus and his armed teams were on standby in the lab yard, in their vehicle mode. Aria was there, inside Optimus' cabin. "To be honest, father, I don't really like it..." she sighed. "That they still kept the print, not destroying it. It will be better if it's just gone for good," she confessed.

Optimus didn't reply, as he too, was in same argument. They too had no idea what the humans had in mind with keeping the print.

The night was getting pretty late, but no sign of Cons.

"Maybe they decided to pass it this night?" Bulkhead asked.

They were looking to the sky, as they knew that Decepticons usually would strike from the air. Little did they knew, the Cons had a little ninja, who was already inside the lab, and advancing to where they stored the prints. The lab personals were already evacuated away, and few soldiers were standing guard in front of the computer room.

Fowler's radio came online. "_We've detected an intruder inside the lab...AGH!" __  
_

"What? What's happening, anyone can hear me? Do you copy?" Fowler tried to call back. He was wondering what was happening inside. He was about to raise an alarm to the soldiers.

But it turned out he didn't need to, as the lab exploded from the inside, shocking everyone presents.

_BOOOMMM_

"What the...?" Arcee questioned as she and the other Autobots were blasted by the shockwaves. They could fare little bit better than the human soldiers.

"They already went inside...?" Aria whispered, as she held tightly to Optimus' steering wheel. "Unnoticed, nonetheless...?"

"Contact the firefighters! Deploy the rescue team, we have to evacuate the people inside! Team A-1 and A-2, you come and provide cover for rescue team!" Fowler instructed. "Rescue team, wait for my cue to go! The enemy might be still inside...!" but as he turned around, he saw a shadow of someone, walking out of the blaze. "Everyone, raise your weapons!"

The humans were pointing their weapons to the unknown presence. The blaze of the fire blinded their eyes, so they could barely see on who was walking there.

But the Autobots, as well as Aria, could see who was it. "What in the hell...?" Aria whispered.

It was a human boy, around 14 years old. He held a black disk, containing the Cyborg Organism technical print part 2. He was obviously responsible for the blow up. He approached the human military, and just stared at them in flat face.

"A boy...?" Fowler wondered.

Much to their shock, the boy transformed his right hand to cannon, and without second thinking, shot a powerful blast to the human military. The soldiers, including Fowler, barely made out of it, but they survived the blast.

Aria couldn't believe what she witnessed. "White blast...?" she asked as she saw the boy was shooting out white blast from his cannon. And she recognized very well the blast pattern. "Don't tell me..."

The boy was prepared to send another blast.

"WAIT!" until Aria jumped out of the truck, transformed her own hand, and dash forward. She couldn't fire any shot, because there were still too many humans there, and her white blast was powerful. She popped her wheels, and in mere seconds, she stood just few meters in front of the boy. That was when, she could see the boy's face much better. Aria was speechless, standing in front of her was a boy, at same age as her, and his face bore no expression. It reminisced her for certain things that happened in her life.

Just then, the boy turned his cannon to Aria and shot her. Aria could barely dodged it, but she confirmed that it was white energon blast. That boy was a half machine being, and had white energon flowing in his body.

A GroundBridge portal opened, it was from the Nemesis. Megatron was stepping out of the portal, much to everyone's horror. With Megatron's arrival, Optimus and the other Autobots transformed to bipedal mode and sprung into action.

"Agent Fowler, evacuate all of your personals immediately!" the last Prime instructed.

"Men, retreat!" it didn't take very long for the humans to evacuate from the area.

"It's pretty rare for you to come to field with yourself, huh?" Arcee commented as she had her blasters ready.

"Indeed, but I come here for special occasion. As you can see, my little soldier here did pretty well in his first day of job," Megatron referred to the boy. "And I would like to introduce my new recruit to Optimus and his team. His name is..._Helios_."

"Helios?" Optimus widened his eyes, and the eyes turned to angry look. The Prime recognized the name. "Megatron...have you fallen that low, to merge a Decepticon sparkling with a human boy...?" his words were grudging.

"Decepticon sparkling...?" Aria pondered, but her eyes didn't move from the Helios boy. She couldn't believe it, that boy wasn't only half machine. He was half Cybertronian, half Decepticon, and White.

"I am truly glad that you still remembered, Optimus. But do not jump into conclusion before I finished," Megatron gloated. "This boy was not created by us. He came from illegal experiment conducted by humans, much like your daughter. We were just fortunate enough to come across him."

Aria was startled, Helios came from the same experiment as her?! "Just how many they already messed up with...?" she clenched her fist in anger.

"Helios, have you already secured the second material?" the Decepticon leader asked.

"Yes..." finally, the silent boy spoke. His voice was deep, too deep for a boy at his age.

"Good, then why don't you use this chance to know them better? The ones who are our mortal enemies, alright..." Megatron stepped back to GroundBridge, leaving the boy back. Seconds later, Decepticon air forces arrived.

"Autobots, stand your ground!" Optimus announced as numerous flying Vehicons landed in front of them, ready for fight. The hot fight soon ensued. And Helios made his first move to Aria, he aimed his cannon and shot the girl.

Aria leapt to dodge all the firings, but it was her very first time dealing with white blast. And also, dealing with another White, half Cybertronian. She leapt once again, and delivered her own shot. Much to her surprise, Helios also dodged it, and he zoomed straight to her with incredible speed. After that, the brunette boy sent his punch, which was dodged again by the ponytail. Aria transformed her hands to metal hands, and counterattacked. But, all of her punches were blocked and dodged. That boy had a sturdy defense.

Helios then caught Aria's next punch, and easily slammed the girl to nearby barrels. "Ouch!" the ponytail winced in pain as she struggled to stand up. "He's fast...!" she commented, but she knew it was no time for compliment, as Helios leapt over her head and was about to trample her. Aria quickly rolled over to dodge the trample. The boy moved like lightning, within seconds he caught up with the girl, and threw another punch. Aria quickly caught the fists in her hand, and there was pushing showdown.

Aria struggled to block the fists, but that was when she could see Helios' eyes. They were brown, with a red color in the center, indicating that the boy was indeed half Decepticon. "Your name...is Helios?" she decided to make him talk. "They said that Helios was a Decepticon sparkling, you are human. So, what's your real name...?" but the girl was startled as the boy's expressionless stare was soon filled with burning anger, and there was a hint of sadness. He immediately kicked the ponytail square in stomach and sent her rolling. The girl was shocked, and much to her dismay, she wasn't able to hit the score. Helios was...tough.

Helios was about to deliver last blow, before he turned around and saw that the Autobots already knocked over all Vehicons. He did know the protocol of retreating if outnumbered. As the remaining Vehicon was defeated by Optimus, the boy turned around.

Aria knew that Helios was about to escape. "Wait...!" despite that her stomach was aching, she struggled to stand up. As she finally managed to stand, she gave a chase to the boy. Helios just turned around again, lifted his left palm, and a white force field emerged from it. "What...?!" Aria widened her eyes, the force field spread out, and eventually sent her flying again. "He could...use the force field...?" she whispered in disbelief, her body was sparkling white.

Helios knew that it was time to retreat. A pair of rocket boosters and wings emerged from his back. The jet fired up, and Helios made his escape to the night sky.

Which made Aria's jaw hung open. "He even has a flight ability...?! NOT FAIR!" she whined out.

"Aria, are you alright?" Optimus and the other Autobots came to her aid. Optimus crouched down and helped his daughter to stand up with his fingers.

"I'm...alright..." Aria stood up, she was upset. Upset to the fact, that she had lost to the half Decepticon. "Scrap...!" and the girl wasn't the one who would receive loss that easy.

* * *

The team returned to base after the failed mission. They had let the Decepticon got hold of second part of technical print.

"What's happening?" Ratchet and the kids were waiting for any reports. Ratchet immediately tended to everyone's wound, when Optimus told them what was happening.

"Half Decepticon...?" Jack repeated in disbelief.

"More cyborg coming forward..." Miko commented.

"Father, did you know something about Helios?" Aria asked.

"Helios...?" Ratchet widened his eyes. "By the Allspark, that Decepticon sparkling...?"

"Helios was a name of Decepticon sparkling missing during our ambush to Decepticon hideout many eons ago, back in Cybertron," Optimus explained.

"Hold on, how did you know about Decepticon sparkling name?" Arcee asked.

"It was under Optimus' order that we had to take account on how much casualty we dealt with Decepticon cause," Ratchet explained.

"Even if this war is between Autobots and Decepticons, I saw no reason to harm any more than we already made. I will no harm defenseless living being, including Decepticon newborns," Optimus stated.

"Okay so, this Decepticon sparkling was missing, and somehow ended up on Earth?" Rafael questioned.

"And ended up being inside that White boy," Aria muttered.

_White?_ Bumblebee asked.

"He is a White Cybertronian, I've confirmed it," the ponytail answered further.

"By the Allspark, another White Cybertronian on Earth?" Ratchet gasped.

"Are you sure it's not some kind of mutation caused by the experiment?" Bulkhead asked, as he was skeptical that Decepticon could be White.

"No, it's a pure white energon, passed down by Parthonus to the ones whom she saw fit as her successor," Aria argued.

"But a Decepticon?! Geez, that white lady truly had a bad taste," Miko scoffed.

"Watch your words!" Ratchet was offended. "Parthonus is our legendary Saint, the holy one! I would let any mouth to..."

"Make no mistake, Ratch, Miko is right. That Saint really had a bad taste," Aria cut in.

"What?!" Ratchet spun around in shock.

"Not only that, she was also boisterous, clumsy, wild and on top of everything, very bossy," Aria counted her fingers.

All the people were speechless, they didn't expect the girl to badmouth her own predecessor.

"_Prime!"_ Agent Fowler contacted again. He wasn't in his usual shirt and neck tie, he was in white T-shirt and there were bandages on his head and neck.

"Special Agent Fowler, are you injured?" Optimus asked.

"_A little, not a big deal. But whew, I didn't expect the things turned out that way..."_ the black agent sighed. "_Kid over there, was that boy your teammate once?"_

"No...I was the only one..." the girl sighed sadly. "Although, I can't be sure. I couldn't really remember my old days after all..."

"Aria..." Optimus knew how painful it was for Aria to relive her past life.

"_We let them got the print. __But, we got our jackpot as well. I took the picture of that wonder boy, and turned out that boy is in our missing person database."_

"What?" Aria was surprised by the news.

The monitor then showed an image of Helios, and his data. "_His real name is Adrian Kurt, reported missing about 10 years ago, he was 14 years old back then."_

"14? But look at the date of birth," Bulkhead pointed out. "That boy looked much younger than his supposed age."

"It was caused by the experiment itself," Ratchet cut in. "The fusion of human DNA and Cybertronian CNA caused alteration in genetic code, as well as growing lifespan of the said human. Aria here, is the good example. The boy too, his growth must be cut halfway."

"Kurt...you mean that famous royal family from Spain?" Rafael asked.

"_You sure know a lot, kid,"_ Fowler praised.

"No kidding, Kurt family is very famous for their wealth. They had been a wealthy noble for the last 50 years," Jack browser through his memory.

"That much?" Arcee asked.

"They were running numerous business in middle of their golden age. First, they ran a jewelry factory in Spain, then soon they got their hands on spices, oil, hotels, brewery, almost everything. I've heard that the latest they already won the first place in software development. My mom once wondered, how was it like to get a hold on such big amount of fortune."

"Rich bastards, huh...?" Miko commented.

"_That cut short my explanation then. Adrian is a second child of Alfredo Kurt, the tenth generation and now the main head of the family itself,"_ Fowler added.

"Second child...?" Aria asked again.

"_Yeah, Alfredo once had a daughter, named Cassandra. But she passed away due to leukemia, just a year before Adrian went missing. Right now, their multimillionaire business is held by Alfredo, but since he is up to the age now, he is going to pass them to his stepson, named Lucio."_

"Stepson?" Jack asked.

"_He's a child of Alfredo's older brother. Lucio's parents passed away in accident, so Alfredo adopted him in. But to think this rich boy ended up being Decepticon...God help me..."_ the agent sighed in defeat. "_As soon as I finished with the military lab, I'll conduct throughout investigation with Kaldovski's group, as well as the Kurt family themselves. I'll give you the news once I get it."_ With that, he cut off the connection.

"Adrian...one boy that is fortunate enough to come from a rich family..." Aria sighed, when she compared herself to Helios/Adrian. That boy had a family, when she...didn't have the true family from the beginning. "Really, this is really getting to my nerve..."

"Aria...?" Arcee looked at the girl in weird way.

"He beat me square back then, I couldn't land even a single hit. He also has better control with force field than I do. And not to mention, he can fly!" Aria yelled out in frustration. "I hate to admit it, but he's much better than me. That boy really stole my scores..."

"Wow, sounds like you're having a rival from now on..." Bulkhead chuckled.

"Relax, I bet you can beat him to pulp next time! You can't lose to a rich jerk, big girl," Miko tried to cheer her half metal friend.

"Well, that's the second thing I want to do," Aria replied. "First of all, I really want to know, why did he join Decepticon in first place?"

"Do you really want to know the obvious thing?" Bulkhead guessed. "He must be controlled by the Cons, much like, no offense, like you."

"I don't think so, when I fought with him, I saw his eyes filled with emotion. And I could swear that he was fully aware of what he did. He isn't being controlled," Aria argued.

"Then, my best guess is, he already left the millionaire life and moved in to Decepticon scrap life," Arcee guessed.

"Not that either. When I saw his eyes, there were anger and sadness..." Aria reflected back to those brownish red eyes. "If he chose that kind of path, why was his face be that way...?"

"Okay, we admit defeat," Bulkhead held his hands up. "You have the answer for trick question."

"No, not yet," Aria shook her head, but determination filled her eyes. "Soon, I'll know why."

* * *

Back on Nemesis, Knock Out, Megatron, and Helios were looking over the print Helios managed to rob. The red medic compared it to Helios' full scan image. "Hmm, there are some hitches here and there, but rest assure, I can make some improvement..." he said. "With our technologies, I can bring out the Cybertronian form real quick and easy."

"Excellent, then be done with it, Knock Out. I do not wish for a soldier in organic form," Megatron then turned his attention to the half Decepticon boy on his side. "As with our deal before, Helios. I shall help you in anyway I could in order for you to do your personal conquest. And in return, you will stay and place your loyalty to me as my soldier."

"Yes, Lord Megatron," Helios merely nodded.

"Okay, boy, time to make you a bigger boy now," Knock Out said.

As Knock Out was about to do his surgery, Megatron left the med bay. In the hallway, he met up with Airachnid.

"How strange to think that we have a White, Decepticon, half human in our arsenal as well," the spider bot commented. "And I was pretty much surprised that you took that boy in, master."

"You should already know it, that Helios had the potential, Airachnid," the Decepticon leader answered. "The sparkling inside him was from our own, it was only fair if I made him as my subordinate. And what was more, he shared me a little story of him." He paused. "After hearing his own personal story, I was touched, and therefore, my spark moved to offer a helping hand."

"Helping hand?"

"That boy might be the only one who shared one thing common with me," Megatron hissed. "The feeling of being betrayed by the ones whom you once trusted. And on how much we wanted to pay back to those unworthy ones." The Decepticon tyrant growled as he reflected back to the day, when Orion Pax was entrusted with the title of Prime, instead of him. Megatron hadn't gone over that feeling of betrayal yet.

* * *

Inside the med bay, Knock Out was preparing to do the surgery, when Helios was already lying on the metal berth. His eyes were burning with revenge. "Now, please don't make that kind of stare," Knock Out was nervous by how the boy stared at him. "I know that you wanted a payback to those puny humans who made you this way. But soon you will know that it's not thad bad."

"No, it's not about those scientists..." Helios said, his voice was grudging. "It's _them."_

_When I have the power I much need...I'll make them pay..._

* * *

Phew, did I do a good job? Review please.


	8. Helios

"_Nothing in the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity"_

_Martin Luther King Jr._

* * *

On the next day, an interrogation was held in military base. Kaldovski was the one being interrogated, and the one in charge was General Bryce himself.

"Do you recognize this young boy?" Bryce showed the scientist the photograph of Helios.

"Hey...isn't this Project 01?" apparently Kaldovski recognized the boy. "Where did you find him?"

"He found us. So this boy indeed, came from your lab. Why didn't you mention anything about this boy before?" Bryce asked.

"I told you that the Project 01 was a failure, and destroyed around 8 or 9 years ago," the doctor argued.

"Yet, this boy was alive, this is the proof," Bryce demanded as he pointed to the photo. "You'd better explain about this!"

"Fine, as the name implies, Project 01 was the very first project for my Cyborg Organism experiment. I started it when I discovered a strange big pod crashing into my neighborhood. Inside the pod, there was a big, robot alien, red in color. He was dead when I found him. I developed further and secret study on the dead alien, and I discovered that the metal composition was somehow...organic despite not organic," Kaldovski started. "So, I had the idea to merge the alien robot body with human body, thinking that I could create a cyborg. Well, that idea was rejected by my collages, but I was...rather obsessed to do it."

"And the human boy?"

"I was traveling to Spain when I discovered this young boy sitting all alone in dark alley. You know, kids weren't supposed to be in that place. Say what you like, but at that time I badly needed an experiment subject, and that boy was a sitting duck for me," the scientist smirked. "And after that, I developed him as Project 01. I told you the project was destroyed, because my old laboratory was demolished by huge landslide. Well, in the truth, I really didn't know what happened to him, because we never got back to my old lab since then."

"Are you trying to tell me that, you actually abandoned a 14 year old boy in such disaster?!" the General raised his voice in anger.

"We were in panic to save our lives, so we really didn't have a time to think of evacuating anything else besides ourselves! Isn't that what you are gonna do when disaster strikes? After all, Project 01 was deemed as failure and we kept him inside charge capsule," answered Kaldovski.

"It's still considered as abandonment, doctor. After you saved yourselves, you could go back and search and rescue! It was a living boy, not a dead robot!" Bryce yelled in fury.

"With my lab being buried under 20-30 feet of landslide? Do your really think we had the ability to dig down there? And in case it's not clear, we were conducting illegal experiment, so calling out firefighters or SAR was out of question," Kaldovski said.

"Point. So, why was this 'Project 01' a failure?" the General lowered his voice.

"Because he was so difficult to control, we couldn't get hold completely of his physic and mental. No matter how much we upgraded and tinkered with the softwares and everything else. As the result, we received bruises almost every day when he threw temper tantrum," replied the doctor. "After a while, I finally pinpointed the source of problem, his memory."

"Memory?"

"That boy had a past life, and as long as he was still reminded by his own life, controlling him was out of question," the doctor continued. "We had tried to make him forget, like electrocuting his brain, chemical, even hypnotic. But all of those could only make him forget for some times. After that...whoom...!"

Bryce winced by the mention of the procedures. He tried to hold himself from beating the crazy scientist. He just couldn't imagine on how the boy could receive so much tortures.

"Well, that being said, Project 01 was deemed failure, and we had to keep him in comatose state inside the capsule. I still thought a way on how to gain control over my test subject though. I was at dead end, until I met with Benjamin Yoshida, and his flash-grow experiment."

"Because you finally had a way to speed up the growth of baby, you could get a suitable test subject without any kind of past life as the memory. Is that what you trying to tell me?" Bryce concluded.

"You catch up rather quick, General. That's right, and because that girl had no memory whatsoever, it was piece of cake to gain control over her. Project 02 was my latest masterpiece," Kaldovski grinned crazily.

"You are trash of the universe, do you know that?" Bryce sneered.

"I know that very well, General. By the way, can you explain on how this boy is still alive?" the doctor asked back. "Because, the capsule we installed him in, could only support his life for so long without any kind of power source. Without electricity, I estimated that boy couldn't survive more than 1 year. Yet, how...? This is interesting..."

* * *

Agent Fowler was also in his own investigation. He was appointed by Bryce to gain information from the Kurts. By afternoon, the black agent arrived at Barcelona airport. "Whew, what a journey..." he murmured as he walked inside the airport to the exit. But before exiting the airport, he made a quick stop at restroom.

That was when, someone called him through his phone. "_Agent Fowler, this is Aria."_

"Oh you, what's up?" Fowler held his phone with his shoulder as he did his business.

"_I heard that you are departing to Barcelona. Mind if I tag along?"_

"I...don't mind a company, but how? I'm already in the city of Barca and..." Fowler apparently forgot that the girl did have another way of transportation. He could hear a GroundBridge portal opened behind him. He spun around and nearly popped out his eyes as Aria stepped out of it.

"Hello there, welcome to Spain," Aria greeted to the agent. She wore a pink jacket over her black rubber suit.

Fowler nearly received heart attack. "You...! This is _men's restroom_!" in panic, he hurriedly zipped his pants. But he did one wrong move, and as the result, he screamed aloud in pain. "_AAAAAAAAAA!" _he jumped around while trying to cover his private at the same time, his trousers dropped down as the result.

"Are you alright...?" Aria was startled as two male security guards burst into the restroom. They heard the scream of Fowler before and their jaws were hanging open to find a man with only underwear on and a teenage girl inside, it was very awkward situation.

"Manager, we have situation in men's restroom!" one security reached his radio.

* * *

"I told you, I was sorry," Aria stated as both of them already exited the airport, and were in taxi waiting spot.

"You..." Fowler was in surly mood, and his private area was still in pain. "You not only almost made me losing my manliness, I was treated like a child molester after that!" he tried his best not to lash out at the girl. Aside for the fact that the ponytail was a young girl, she had a 30 feet tall father. "Why did you choose that place as your checkpoint...?"

"There was no one else inside, that's all," Aria replied shortly.

Fowler face palmed himself, but he decided not to push further. The incident itself already embarrassed him so much. Perhaps he couldn't get back to Barcelona without being remembered by the securities as child molester. "Come on, we have to hurry," he stopped one taxi.

"So, where are we going?" Aria asked as they both got into the cab.

"We're going to _Kurtain Corporation_, it's software developing company owned by Alfredo Kurt," Fowler explained. "But he resigned himself from the company after he suffered a stroke attack last month. Lucio Gonzales Kurt is the CEO right now."

"The adopted son, huh...?" the ponytail murmured.

* * *

They arrived at the company, and headed immediately to the director office. Lucio Gonzales Kurt was there. Despite the fact that he was a stepbrother of Adrian Kurt, the CEO appeared much older than the missing boy. He was a 22 years old young man with a short, blonde hair.

"Special Agent Fowler from United States," Lucio greeted his guests politely. "It's a pleasure for me to meet you. And, who is this young lady?" he referred to Aria.

"Uh, about that...I'm going to explain now," Fowler said. "I think I've explained over the matter yesterday, Mr. Lucio. That we might have the clue about the missing child of your family, Adrian Kurt."

"Yes, my stepbrother," Lucio nodded. "It's already 10 years, we already thought that he was dead. To think that he was still out there..."

"I haven't said that we found him, we just had few clues about the missing one," Fowler carefully hid the fact that they did find Adrian, in very complicated situation. "This young girl over here was a witness, she just happened to saw the boy-I mean, man- who resembles greatly with Adrian."

"Really?" Lucio asked to the girl. "Now who's your name, young lady?"

"...It's Janice," Aria received a weird look from Fowler. But for safety measures, the girl decided not to reveal her true name.

"Okay Janice, may I know about what you witnessed?" the blonde man asked again.

"May I ask first, Mr. Lucio? On why did Adrian go missing?" Aria asked.

For the well-educated man, the action was bit rude. But much to Lucio's surprise, the girl had some kind of strong aura in her words. "Well, as my memory served it...around 10 years ago, yeah. It was when I was still 12 year old boy. In fact, I didn't know too much about it, since my brother Adrian just vanished from home. But from what I heard from our butler, Adrian just took off from home after having quarrel with our father."

"Quarrel?" the ponytail frowned. "May I know about what kind of quarrel?"

"I didn't know either, I was in my bedroom at that time. Even when I asked my father, he just kept silent," Lucio shrugged.

After that, they heard a knock on the door. Lucio answered it, and a senior man sitting in wheelchair came in with a nurse wheeling him. "Father...?" Lucio was sounded surprised. "What are you doing here? You were supposed to be in hospital!"

"That place is boring, this is the place that can make me feel home..." by the way he talked, the old man wasn't over his stroke yet. "Who are those...?"

"Ah, let me introduce you, this is Special Agent William Fowler from U.S force, and...his assistant Janice," Lucio said. "This is my father, Alfredo Juan de Fernando Raymond Kurt."

"That's long..." Aria muttered to herself.

"Nice to meet you sir," Fowler shook hand with Alfredo. "I'm here regarding of your missing son, Adrian Kurt." He showed the photograph of 14 years old Adrian Kurt.

But Alfredo just scoffed. "Huh, after 10 years, must I still bother with that boy?"

That statement shocked Aria and Fowler.

"Father...!" Lucio softly reprimanded his stepfather. "You cannot speak like that in front of guests."

"It will be fine. My life is almost finished, after all. It's not good if I bring all of my secrets in life to my coffin...my late wife wouldn't like that at all..." Alfredo commented with hoarse voice. "What's wrong with that boy anyway? He was already dead..."

"We can't be so sure about that, sir. Because, we already have a clue about Adrian's whereabout now..." Fowler tried to explain.

"Just let him be!" Alfredo intercepted. "Even if he's still alive, that useless boy won't be too much help for me or my family..."

Aria was enraged instantly, how could a father call his son useless? She tried to hold herself, as she was dealing with a sick old man. "May I ask why?" Aria asked.

"Adrian was just a burden. He couldn't improve in any of his studies, just wanted to play all day, a lazy boy. How could I entrust the entire family and company to such useless boy?" Alfredo reflected back. "To think that he was my son...at least Cassandra was much better than him."

"That's right, you had a daughter once..." Fowler commented.

"Yeah, she was a beautiful young lady, until the cancer took her from me..." the old man sighed. "But alas, she was too soft, she always defended all of Adrian's laziness antics. We always got into argument because she wanted me to just let Adrian play all day long! I told her that she had to be stricter, but...well..."

"So, may I know, what kind of quarrel did you two have at the time Adrian went missing?" Fowler asked again.

"Oh yeah, about that, Adrian was very childish," Alfredo said. "Earlier that day, he and Lucio went into brawl. I reprimanded him because he was the one who started it. He didn't accept it, and just ran off."

"And you didn't make any attempt to chase him...?" Aria asked.

"Why should I bother? As I said, that boy could do nothing. It would be much better if he just vanished..."

That snapped Aria's last string, she bolted out of the office without saying anything. It was too much for her. She decided to get out before she went berserk inside. Aria headed to nearest women toilet.

"Ratchet, GroundBridge, now!" she commed over to the base with harsh voice. Pretty soon, a portal opened, and the girl went inside.

* * *

Ratchet was wondering what happened, as Aria stomped out of GroundBridge. She was pissed, anger was presented on her face. "Aria, what's the matter...?" he tried to ask.

Aria just ignored him, she stopped in mid track as she recalled everything from before. In pure rage, she lashed out, and smashed the GroundBridge control panel with her super enraged strength.

"ARIA! I NEEDED THAT!" Ratchet gasped in shock.

"I NEEDED THAT TOO!" Aria yelled back, more louder, silencing the CMO in instant.

The girl dashed to training room. There, she lashed out every bit of her anger to the punching bag.

"HAH!" Aria delivered her last punch to the punching bag, and she still panted heavily. But after punching so much, her anger was sated a little bit. "Jerk old man..." she hissed. Aria couldn't believe it, there was a parent that ignorant. It was just as Miko said, a rich bastard.

"_Aria, come here. Agent Fowler wishes to speak with you_."

"Coming, Ratch," Aria replied back. She walked back to the command center. "Father...?"

Optimus was there already. He had worried look after Ratchet told the Prime that his daughter threw some fits earlier. "Aria, are you...?"

"I'm good, all good..." Aria forced a smile to her father.

"_There you are, kid! Don't you learn something called 'etiquette' already?" _Fowler asked from the monitor. "_You came without invitation, leaving without goodbye, just what kind of attitude is that?"_

"Sorry, Agent Fowler. I lost it," Aria merely answered.

"_I know, I almost lost it too_," Fowler sighed deeply.

* * *

That evening, everyone gathered to discuss the investigation result. Fowler, over the monitor, told them about General Bryce interrogation with Kaldovski. "_Adrian Kurt ran away from home after having a quarrel with his dad. It was presumed that he wandered to sketchy part of the town, and that was when Kaldovski spotted him. H__e still had no idea on how that boy could survive this long though..."_

"It's because he's a White alright," Aria spoke. "The white energon inside him kept him alive long enough, until the Decepticon found him..." she murmured sadly. Finally, she uncovered more of the fact of her creation. That, didn't make her feel any better though. "A test subject without memories, huh...?"

"I still can't believe it..." Rafael sighed sadly. "I always thought that the Kurt was a royal, wise, nice kind of rich family..."

"That's when advertisement really takes the main role, right?" Miko commented. "Rich bastards..."

"I also can't believe it, but for now, it seems to be the fact," Aria said. "That Adrian...or Helios, didn't have good relationship with his own family..."

"He's already half Decepticon, alright," Arcee commented.

"Yet, I still don't know what he tried to accomplish by it..." Aria stared at her own fist. "_Soon, Helios, soon..."_

* * *

_"ADRIAN, WHERE ARE YOU?!" the angry voice of Alfredo boomed over. "Why are you still here?! I told you to study, right?! Quit playing around in the backyard, go study or do something else more useful!"_

_"But daddy...I'm bored! The books and all that stuffs are just too boring!"Adrian whined out._

_"You dare to question me...?" _

_"Dad...!" Cassandra came by. "Please let him be, dad. He's still 6, still too young to study that much. Please give him at least little freedom." _

_Adrian just scoffed, then left. "You will come to my office in the evening, young lady." _

_"Sis..." Adrian called out in worry._

_"It's okay now, Adrian..." the 10 years old girl crouched down. "You have to know that dad has no bad intention to you, alright? Now, if you're bored, why don't we play hide and seek for a while? After that, I'll help you with studying."_

_"But Cas, aren't you...?" _

_"It's okay, I've finished all of my homework. Now, who shall count first? Okay Adrian, you are the first! Count to 10 from now on!" _

Helios's eyes opened as he got up from stasis.

"Okay, rise and shine, I've finished it," Knock Out grinned after he finished upgrading Helios.

Helios tried to move his limbs, and found out that his body was bit heavier. But, he sighed deeply. "...Just when I was about to get to the good part..." he whispered aloud.

"What...?" Knock Out questioned.

"No...it's nothing," the brunette shook his head. After that, he stood up from his berth. He closed his eyes, channeling his upgraded mode. And in mere seconds, the human boy turned into a Cybertronian, with vermilion armor.

"Good, unless that you have to work about your height a little bit more," the red medic commented to Helios whose height was up to Knock Out's shoulder. "And, it might be some while before you can gain your full range motion. Transition from organic to metal alright."

Helios exited the med bay to return to his own quarter. In mid way, he met up with Airachnid.

"Hello there little boy, ow, you are gorgeous..." Airachnid looked at the vermilion mech in weird way. "You are as bright as the sun here. How if we have a little chat?" the spider bot was about to walk closer to Helios.

Helios just lifted his hand, and prevented Airachnid from getting closer by casting his force field. He was not in the mood for anything, but one. The boy formed his fist, and stared at it, "_Soon Cas, soon..."_

* * *

Please review :3


	9. Not same individuals

"_There's nothing I despise more than people trying to be something that they're not"_

_Charlize Theron_

* * *

Aria was training with Arcee outside the base. She decided it, if she was to have any hope of winning over Helios, she had to improve her skills more. One of her skills that she deemed to be important, was the force field. Which was why, Aria was focusing on her force field durability for that day's training.

"Come on Miss Arcee, give it everything you've got!" Aria said as her arms were crossed in front of her face, and a force field was erected in front of her body.

"Here I come!" Arcee announced as she dashed and kicked over the barrier with her both legs. After that, she sent series of punches and kicks to it. "You sure you can still hold it?"

"I'm fine...!" Aria gritted her teeth as she struggled to keep her barrier intact. Then in last punch, finally her barrier was broken.

"You okay?" Arcee asked in concern.

"Yeah...just...a bit dried up..." the sea-green femme panted. "This force field really drained up my stamina...yet I still couldn't manage it efficiently, like Helios. Keeping it intact, let alone sending it away..." she remembered the time when Helios sent her flying by sending out his own force field. "Somehow, I felt like this is useless..."

"Don't say something like that, you're doing even better today," Arcee tried to reassure the girl. "Giving up is not in your dictionary, right?"

"Yeah...that's right..." Aria smiled.

"_Arcee, Aria, return to base right now!" _it was Optimus.

"Father...?" Aria frowned, it was unusual for her father to be in the comm link himself.

"Let's go," the older femme urged.

* * *

"I've detected an ancient Autobot signal deep in the mountain area," Ratchet said.

"Chance is, we have discovered the location of ancient artifact of Cybertron," Optimus said. "Whatever it is, we have to secure it before the Decepticons do. Bumblebee, you come with me. Ratchet, I may require assistance."

"Father, take me with you too!" Aria spoke in. "Chance is, _he _will be there too."

* * *

It was pretty rare for Megatron to come at field work. But he was on the rock cliff, for reason. His drones were excavating something from the place. Something that could be very important for him to have. But unbeknownst to him, Optimus, Ratchet, and Aria were observing from far away. Bumblebee has gone patrolling the area.

"Megatron?!" Ratchet shouted in disbelief.

"It seems you detected the Ancient Autobot frequency precisely because it was unearthed," Optimus stated.

"No kidding..." Aria observed the group, and finally she got her jackpot. She spotted a vermillion colored mech between the drones, and she could recognize easily who he was. Helios was there. "Should we go for ambush now?"

"Well, our backup shouldn't be far behind," Ratchet stated.

"Without knowing what the Decepticons have exhumed, I believe that I am unwilling to wait," Optimus stood up and deployed his blasters.

"That's my father," Aria grinned, she transformed to her Cybertronian form. There would be a payback showdown.

"Show me," Megatron ordered as his drones found something that looked like Cybertronian style jar. "Bring it to me with utmost care." The drones brought the jar to him, and the Decepticon tyrant opened it. After he saw the context, he widened his eyes in surprise.

"What is it, Lord Megatron?" Helios was curious.

Just then, the Autobots came for the ambush. "Megatron!" Optimus shouted as he ran towards them. "I cannot allow you to pilfer Autobot relics!"

Megatron just cackled. "Not only are you misinformed, Optimus, but I would strongly advise you to lower your weapons…unless you're in the mood for mutually assured destruction," Megatron then held up the context of the jar.

"It can't be!" Ratchet gasped.

"No way..." Aria too, recognized the thing from Arianna's memory.

"The spark extractor..." Optimus realized that they were in big trouble.

"Rather unassuming yet capable of extracting every spark within its radius. And too think that _you_ led me straight to it, Optimus. Or should I say _Orion Pax_ did?" Megatron struck a nerve to Optimus. "You really should have left your Decepticon insignia intact, or you have no idea how useful your code-breaking skills proved to be during our all-to brief time together. Ah, speaking of..." Megatron trailed off. "Aria...the last time I met you, I believed I have put you into Optimus' growing list of deceased daughters..."

"You are not going to lay your hands on her!" that statement made Optimus burned in anger. And he, still couldn't forget the tragedy few days before, when Aria was killed by Megatron. The girl was revived shortly afterward, but the Prime nearly lost his second daughter, thanks to Megatron.

"Soundwave, send the GroundBridge!" Megatron decided to go back after having the spark extractor in his hand. "FINISH THEM!" he ordered his troops.

Soon, the drones were engaging the Autobots, and the half Cybertronians engaged each other. Aria launched herself to Helios and vice versa. They unsheathed their blades, and locked into sword fight. Helios was still superior to her, but Aria couldn't afford to lose again, for her pride, and for Helios.

"You got pretty awesome Cybertronian mode there..." the sea-green femme commented as they exchanged blows. "And you are very good in this thing too. Who is your coach?"

Helios didn't answer, just attacked and attacked. Much to his surprise though, the girl could fare a little bit better than the last time.

"You know, you came from the same laboratory as me. You were Project 01, I was the number two. See, I'm your junior," Aria noticed that the vermillion boy widened his eyes a bit. She was expecting any answers, but, the boy kept silent. "Those doctors really messed up with us, eh? At least, with me...WHOA!" she ducked another kick from Helios. "Well, since we are pretty much in same state, how about some chats? You can share me your story, and I can share mine. Don't worry, nobody will know it, I promise."

But still no response. Aria somehow felt like she was talking to second Soundwave. Well, she didn't expect for an enemy to answer her question that soon. However, this boy was having pretty much same fate as her. Aria wasn't going to give up. "Adrian Kurt, it's your real name, right?"

Helios/Adrian widened his eyes again, it had been a while since someone called him with his human name.

"SAY SOMETHING WILL YOU?!" the sea-green femme was frustrated. She really wanted to coax some answers from the silent boy. She heard a car engine from behind, Bumblebee had arrived on the scene.

"Bumblebee, secure the package!" Optimus ordered, and the yellow car sped to the GroundBridge portal.

Aria sighed, at least there would be someone taking care of it. She leapt to dodge another shot from the half Decepticon. Having no other choice, she resorted to provocation. "Hey, I've met with your very rich family. 50 years, can you believe that? Really, a bunch of jerk rich people," she was aware that the boy might get angry. But much to her surprise, Helios didn't budge a bit, even after she badmouthed his family.

The sea-green femme then remembered about something, Adrian's late sister Cassandra. "I haven't seen your big sister around though. Cassandra, I think?" that made Helios flinched a bit. "Tell me, is she also a jerk like the rest of your family?"

Finally, Aria was getting a response, though not the response she liked. The White Decepticon was angered, really angered. He immediately fired up his jet, soaring up, and tried to flatten the sea-green femme. Aria rolled to the side to dodge it, but Helios started to attack her like a crazy animal.

"What the...?" Aria struggled to defense from all of Helios' brutal attacks. She could see it in the red eyes, that boy was angry, very angry. The girl began to think that the provocation was a bad idea after all, as she was tossed to the ground. Helios pinned her down with his feet, and pointed his blaster to her head.

"What do you know about her...?" finally the boy spoke, in very angry manner. "WHAT DO YOU KNOW?!"

Aria shuddered in fear as Helios roared at her. His tone was grudging. The boy was about to shoot her head, until Optimus interfered by slamming the boy away.

"Aria, are you alright?" Optimus asked as he stood protectively in front of his daughter. "We already secured the package! Fall back!" he referred to Bumblebee who raced out of the GroundBridge portal with the spark extractor in tow.

"Yes sir...!" Aria didn't want to leave, but she saw the point. Immediately, a GroundBridge from Autobot base opened up. Helios recovered quickly and tried to pursue the fleeing Autobots. He fired up his jet and rocketed forward. "This better works..." Aria quickly got an idea. She concentrated and created a force field to prevent Helios from following them to the portal.

"Uagh!" it worked, Helios crashed to the force field, but unable to penetrate it.

Megatron was chasing Bumblebee out of the portal, but as he stepped out, the Autobots were missing and all the drones were down. "Helios..." Megatron spotted his new recruit was on his knees. "You let the Autobots escape?!"

"I'm sorry, master..." the boy apologized.

* * *

Back at Autobot base, Bumblebee was telling the others about his action. He replayed back his maneuver back in the Decepticon portal by swinging Rafael's remote control car.

"Loopty loop, huh?" Arcee commented.

"You've got some brass bearings, Bumblebee," Bulkhead commented.

"Aria, what's wrong? Come here," Miko called out the ponytail who was sitting on the couch alone, seemed depressed.

"I lost to him again..." Aria murmured.

_You didn't have the chance to finish_ Bumblebee said.

"Yeah, we retreated. But, I would be finished over if only my father didn't save me..." the ponytail sighed heavily. She couldn't believe it, she lost for the second time.

Meanwhile Ratchet and Optimus were examining the spark extractor.

"Optimus, here, the source of the frequency we detected," Ratchet stated as he pointed to his monitor.

"An Iacon homing beacon," Optimus replied.

"What's an Autobot locator beacon doing on that?" Arcee asked.

"The Class A Decepticon weapons confiscated during the war were sealed in the vaults during Iacon," Optimus answered.

"Where you once worked as an archivist," Bulkhead piped in.

"And Arianna's study ground," Aria added. "Have a lotta mumbo jumbo stuffs inside my head right now."

"Iacon was both a cultural centre and a stronghold, which Megatron raided when Autobot troops were at their nadir. It stands to reason that in anticipation of Iacon being overrun by enemy forces, these weapons were jettisoned off world to keep them far from Decepticon reach," the last Prime explained further.

"Clearly, the beacons were added as safety measures, should the weapons ever be found by undesired party," Ratchet added.

"Hoho, thanks to our hot shot stud driver, this one's going in our vault!" Bulkhead pointed the positive result.

"And the others, are still out there Bulk," Aria reminded him.

"Do you think this is the only intel you supplied to Megatron?" the blue femme asked worriedly.

"Arcee, you are right to ask. And I'm afraid I do not remember..." Optimus sadly shook his head.

"Optimus, Megatron clearly took advantage of your amnesia. But for all we know, the spark extractor is only the extent of it!" Ratchet cut in."Have you ever stopped to consider otherwise merely to plague your thoughts?"

* * *

Back on Nemesis, Megatron was enraged.

"If you ever know why I decided to take you as my soldiers, you should know on how to take your responsibility seriously, sparkling," he lectured Helios. "You'd better learn from today, as you might not have so many chances next time."

"Yes..." for the boy, it was like being scolded by his father long time ago.

"THE SPARK EXTRACTOR WAS IN MY GRASP!" Megatron roared as he punched the computer keyboard. "I should have removed more than that scout's voice box when I had the chance!"

Then Soundwave entered with a good news.

"Indeed, Soundwave, we possess two more sets of coordinates, which Orion decrypted before departing our ranks. Let us see what other long lost treasures we may be reunited with," Megatron smirked.

* * *

"Father, you have some time?" Aria was rather frustrated, she left her three human friends by their business, and decided to speak with Optimus.

"What is it, my dear?" Optimus inched closer to the platform, closer to his daughter. If it was for her, the Prime always had 24/7 standby audio to listen.

"Well...you saw it today, right? Helios beat me again..." Aria brushed her ponytail. "Part of it due to the fact that I...insulted his late sister, see? Well, I know that badmouthing someone's family is wrong, but...I ran out of choice."

"Aria, your said action was considered as more than just rude and breaking our protocol. However, I do know that you have good intention for it," Optimus spoke. "I am rather proud of you and your courage, in order to save the lost one."

"I...I'm not trying to save him, father..." the ponytail blushed a little. "Something just draws me to him. But anyway, it seems that I won't be getting anywhere, if I can't win over him. He's just too strong, my senior alright. I just don't know, what I'm supposed to do."

"My daughter, you are not weak in any kind of standard. I know it better than anybody else," Optimus tried to reassure his daughter. "You are just focusing on something that seemingly to be right, but in fact, not."

"What do you mean...?"

"Both of you are half White Cybertronian, half human, and came from same experiment. However you two are anything but same individual," Optimus explained further.

"Yeah, that's right..." Aria murmured, getting the point. She finally realized that she would go nowhere if she tried to be as same as the half Decepticon.

"Focus on what you initially try to achieve, not to be blinded by sudden turnout which could jeopardize your judgement," the Prime advised further, making the girl thought deeper.

* * *

Bumblebee was on patrol when he picked up a strange signal. He contacted the base when Bulkhead was in charge for monitor duty.

"_Yeah. I've just picked up the same signal. Could be another homing beacon. Let's rendezvous at the coordinates._"

The yellow car agreed before making his way to the source of the signal. When he approached closer to the place, he transformed to his bipedal mode and proceeded with all caution. After scooping the area, he found the source of the signal, a transmitter stuck between rocks. Bumblebee thought it was rather weird, and decided to check over the thing. But as he was about to touch the thing, an electric shock was fired at him, eventually knocked the yellow bot out.

And who else would set such trap besides MECH? Silas was there, they were about to do a treasure hunting.

"Silas, another one is heading towards our position. Estimated arrival: two minutes," a MECH surgeon reported.

"Work briskly," the scarface instructed.

Unbeknownst to them, another Cybertronian were attracted by their trap, in form of Starscream. He landed on the cliff and observed the group from far away.

"It would appear the signal was a trap. Better Bumblebee than me," Starscream smirked, and an idea formed in his head.

"The backup is ahead of schedule," Silas observed.

"As luck would have it, so would I," the surgeon pulled out something round.

"Move out," Silas instructed, and they made their escape by the helicopters. Starscream too, transformed and followed them.

By the time Bulkhead arrived at the scene, Bumblebee just regained his consciousness.

"Bee! Who did this?! 'Cons?!" Bulkhead demanded.

The yellow bot had no idea.

"One way to find out. Come on!" Bulkhead took off, as soon as they approached the road, the green bot transformed and sped off.

Bumblebee intended to do the same, but for some reason...he couldn't. He tried again, no result. Worry and horror filled his spark, what was happening to him?

"We're rolling or not?!" Bulkhead drove back to pick the yellow bot.

_I can't transform..._the yellow scout informed sadly.

"What do you mean you can't?!" Bulkhead asked in confusion.

* * *

They returned to base, and Ratchet performed examination on Bumblebee.

"You can fix him, can't you?" Rafael asked worriedly.

"Bumblebee was hit pretty hard. The stun blast may have fried his T-Cog," Ratchet replied.

"Is that like a T-Bone?" Miko asked.

"Not exactly. It's the organ that allows us to scan vehicles and transform," Arcee corrected.

"Wow, do you have it too, Aria?" Miko turned to her ponytail friend.

"I do, but in my case, it's to transform me from human to Autobot form and vice versa," Aria replied.

"Oh, that's boring..." Miko whined.

"Hey, if mine could do the thing like my father's and the others's did, I'd have vehicle mode since long time ago, don't you think so?!" the ponytail girl retorted.

"By the AllSpark!" Ratchet gasped. "Bumblebee's T-Cog isn't damaged! It's missing!"

That made Optimus and the other Autobots widened their eyes and mouth hanging open. And for Bumblebee himself, it was the worst nightmare.

"But the Decepticons transform too? Why would they steal that?!" Jack was intrigued.

"Megatron may be known to raise zombies, but he's no ghoul," Ratchet stated, implying that Megatron and his Decepticons weren't suspect.

"If Megatron wasn't behind this…" Raf began. "Then who was...?"

"The only ones I can think of..." Aria commented.

"The ones who cannibalized Breakdown," Bulkhead got the hint.

"And tried to gut me!" so did Arcee.

"MECH," the CMO dawned to the very obvious culprit. "And it would appear their knowledge of Cybertronian biotech has grown more sophisticated."

"But why would they want Bumblebee's part?!" Raf questioned.

"That's something that...I don't really want to think of, Raf," Aria folded her arms.

Bumblebee himself was beyond frustrated, why was this happening to him? Hell no he would let MECH got away with the prize. He stood up and walked away, attempting to give a hunt to the thieves.

"Bumblebee, please. You are not presently equipped to handle this," Optimus held the young scout back. Bumblebee bleeped a protest to him. "You are mistaken, my friend. I do know what it's like to lose a vital part of one's self. And as a result, I know the value of putting your faith in the strength of those around you. We vow to do everything in our power to make you whole again."

"And if not, Ratchet can make you a new cog thing, right?" Miko asked.

"Miko, a T-Cog is a bio mechanism. Not a scrap yard find. If it were that easy, don't you think I would have replaced Bumblebee's voice box by now?!" Ratchet yelled.

"Ratch, easy there," the half Autobot tried to calm the medic down.

"Alright, alright, I say that none of us transform until Bumblebee gets his cog back!" Bulkhead offered.

"Your spark is in right place Bulkhead. But I don't think now's not the time to be limiting ourselves," Arcee argued.

"Not with Megatron potentially seeking out other doomsday devices. And I fear, not while MECH uses Bumblebee's T-Cog for their own sinister use," Optimus hissed.

"Geez, what a bunch of jerks!" Aria muttered angrily. "I should've gotten rid of them when I had the chance. This time when I set my eyes to that scarface again, I will..."

"Aria," Optimus cut in with firm tone.

"Just saying, father," the ponytail snarled. She already vowed not to kill anymore humans again. But if the humans were threat to her family, she would be more than happy to do it again.

* * *

With the T-Cog they got from Bumblebee, MECH was prepared to do their current project, Project Chimera. They installed the organ to the prototype robot they've built.

"Commence beta test," Silas instructed.

The scientists then charged the prototype with energy. Much to their delight, their robot could work exactly like what they wanted. Time for procedure two.

"Instillation's complete," the surgeon reported. "Commencing scan."

They made the prototype to scan a helicopter. A blue beam was fired from the robot's eyes to the said vehicle. After finishing with the scan, the beam died down.

"Scan successful. Commencing transformation."

But this time, the result wasn't so good. That was when they heard a cackle from their door.

"You are the ones that turned poor Breakdown into a pitiful science experiment?!" it was Starscream. "Didn't learn much from the experiment, did you?"

Alerted, all of the MECH soldiers surrounded the Decepticon with their guns pointed.

"Enough to know where the soft spots are, Decepticon," Silas sneered.

"Oh please, I am no longer affiliated with that entity. Besides, if I was here to avenge the big lug, you would be screaming for mercy by now," Starscream replied without fear.

"Why are you here?" the big boss asked.

"To propose an alliance. You see, we have much more in common than you think. And I am not merely referring to our battle scars," Starscream answered.

"What could I possibly gain from such an arrangement?" Silas asked, he already learnt enough from his experience with Airachnid.

"Insider knowledge," the jet replied.

Silas frowned, but he was interested anyway. He motioned his men to lower their weapons.

"Wise choice," Starscream complimented. "Now, a T-Cog isn't _technology_. It is _biology_. Which means it will reject any power source other than energon."

"Go on," Silas urged.

"Energon is the fuel, the ammunition and the lifeblood of all Cybertronians, whatever their affiliation. You and I both want it. And currently, I lack the means of locating it. But once I supply you with the…," Starscream clawed himself for energon "Particulars of its chemical makeup." He pressed the energon to the center of the robot. Then they could hear the result, the machines worked even better than MECH's power source.

"We can utilize your considerable resources to devise the means of detecting new deposits for us to share," Starscream said with a smirk.

"If the supply meets MECH's rather significant demand," Silas retorted.

"Ahhh… intending to build an army, are you? I am no stranger to ambition," Starscream grinned, this was getting better and even better.

* * *

_"What's wrong with these equations? You did it all wrong!" the tutor spat at Adrian as he splattered the papers in front of him. _

_"I'm sorry...I just couldn't understand how to..." the young Adrian sobbed. _

_"I called it quit, Mr. Alfredo. That boy is so hard to be taught! When I was in middle of lecture, he just stared at the backyard and completely ignored my lessons!" the tutor yelled in frustration at Alfredo. _

_"Jesus, just what should I do to get that stupid boy to improve...?" Alfredo was desperate. _

_"Dad, where are you going...?" Adrian asked when Alfredo and his wife dressed up. _

_"We're going to dinner party at my brother's place. They're celebrating his 40th birthday," answered his mom._

_"Can I go with...?" _

_"No, you stay at home. You will just become a very embarrassing clown there," Alfredo scoffed harshly._

_"Do what your daddy said, okay sweetheart?" his wife did the soft talk, but she agreed with her husband to leave the boy at home anyway. "Just stay and study for your upcoming test." _

_"Alfred, how if this new company be trusted to Adrian in next 10 years?" Alfredo's brother asked._

_"No, no, I'm afraid it's impossible. That boy is just undependable. I will be honest to you, he's 12 right now, but still acts like 5 years old child! Not to mention, he's slow at studying!" Alfredo answered._

_"That's a shame, eh? Then how about this new business...? You're almost up to age, Alfred."_

_"How if you adopt Lucio as your son? You know that his parents died in car accident last week...he's being taken care by me, but you see, I already have 5 kids!" _

_"Yeah, I know Lucio is a bright boy, very different from that useless Adrian..." Alfredo gave it a thought._

Helios just gritted his teeth in anger as he recalled all of his past life. "Who did they think I am...?" he hissed. His own father Alfredo, as well as almost all of the Kurts, just set the boy aside like a trash. Alfredo made him doing every task that he didn't like, such as forcing him to study all day and reprimanded him harshly when he did something wrong.

"_You're going to inherit my business and fortune one day. I did this so you can be prepared to hold all that kind of stuff, Adrian. So be quiet, and just do it!"_

As if he was interested in any of his family business. Helios didn't care if his family was a noble rich for 50 years. All he knew, his life was miserable. His childhood was robbed just for the business and inheritance stuff. If there was a good thing came from his family, it was Cassandra, his older sister. Cassandra was never like the rest of the Kurts. She was a kind and caring girl, and she loved her baby brother so much.

_"Adrian, you fall again? Are you alright, my brother?"_

_"Okay, which one of this equation you don't understand? I can teach it for you." _

_"I love you, Adrian, just never forget it okay? I will always stay by your side, so you don't need to worry about dad or everyone else."_

Cassandra was the only reason why Helios could stand living in the very strict family. But that too, didn't last forever, as her life was cut short by leukemia, which she got when she was 13.

"_Adrian, you come here again?" the girl asked when Adrian visited her in hospital._

_"I worried, sis," Adrian sheepishly said. _

_"No need to worry about me. Just focus on your study, okay?"_

_"I tried to ask mom and dad to come, since they rarely visited you. But today, they were out of town..." Adrian sighed sadly. "It's as if, they don't care about you anymore! What's wrong with them?!" _

_"It's okay, our parents are extremely busy as you can see..." Cassandra sighed deeply. _

_"Sis, you're going to be alright, right...?" Adrian asked. "You're going to leave the hospital, so we can play together again, right...?"_

_Cassandra was quiet for some moment, then she patted Adrian's head. "Everything shall be alright, my dear brother. Don't worry..."_

Helios gritted his teeth in anger, he was still all pissed of by what happened before. That girl in sea-green armor already insulted his beloved sister, who was the only one being nice to him in the family. That half-Autobot was going to pay, he would make sure of it.

"_What a pity for such young sparkling as you to suffer that much, Helios. To tell you the truth, I also had gone through similar things in my life. Painful isn't it, being despised by the community, even by the ones whom you considered as family..."_

That was what Megatron told the vermillion boy after Helios shared his past life.

"_Helios, I want to tell you that you are anything but useless. Those whom despised you weren't aware of the sleeping potential inside you, they treated you like trash, instead. Rest assure, I know who you are. You are a fearsome warrior, who inherited the Blood of Saint. You are the chosen one, besides the daughter of Optimus, of course."__  
_

Helios himself couldn't believe it, when being told the white liquid inside his body, was inheritance of Cybertronian Holy Saint. He was chosen to carry the Blood of Parthonus, even he still didn't know why.

"_From now on, you are one of my soldiers, Helios, a very important part in my cause. You have the power, you cannot let anybody to insult you, or treat you as a trash. Those whom despised us, they would know just who they are dealing with, the golden warrior!"_

Because of Megatron's speech, Helios made up his mind. He wouldn't let anyone to underestimate him again. Not his father, not the Kurts, not that sea-green femme, even if she was Optimus Prime's daughter.

* * *

__Phew, sorry for the delay, I had writer block for some moments. Please review, I'm not sure if I did a good job for this one :3


	10. What I can

"_Great achievement is usually born of great sacrifice, and is never the result of selfishness"_

_Napoleon Hill_

* * *

On the next day, things were little bit frustrating inside the Autobot base, particularly for Ratchet. Optimus and Bulkhead were on patrol, Arcee was with Jack, Bumblebee was there with Aria, Miko, and Raf. Well, for the CMO, everything should be alright. If only Bumblebee would let him alone. He kept asking the same question again and again.

"Optimus and Bulkhead haven't reported in yet," Ratchet answered "Bumblebee! I will let you know the moment I hear something!" and the yellow scout wasn't over yet, as he tapped the ambulance's shoulder again "For Primus sake! Will someone keep him occupied so I can get some work done?!" Ratchet yelled out in frustration.

"Hey, Bee, how about a video game?" Raf called out, eventually getting the attention of his guardian.

Miko and Raf were engaging in serious match with Aria watching from the railing. Aria just smiled as Bumblebee joined as spectator. The game was, a car racing after all. _A car racing. _

"Whooops, bad call," Miko realized that their game made things worse.

"Sorry..." Raf apologized to the yellow scout.

"Hey! No big deal! That game's lame!" Miko tossed aside her controller and grabbed remote control TV "What do you say we watch some TV?"

"_The new Urbana 500. It won't just rock your world. It'll transform it._"

"Not helping..." Aria's jaw hanging open, when the three others were just speechless. The ponytail cringed as Bumblebee beeped aloud in frustration.

"Taking the auto out of Autobot is so not a good thing," Miko made a remark.

"You're quite right..." Aria agreed with her pigtail friend.

"Bee, come on! You're just as amazing without wheels! I mean, speed isn't everything!" Raf tried to reassure Bumblebee.

Bumblebee calmed down for some while, until Arcee and Jack rolled inside the base with incredible speed. Aria's jaw hung open again, this wasn't helping the situation at all.

"Personal best, Arcee! You made 120 easy!" Jack was satisfied as he took off his helmet.

"Guys!" Aria leapt down, approached the two, and pointed up to the upset Bumblebee.

"Uh-oh," Jack and Arcee muttered. This would not be good.

Yes, it wasn't good at all, Bumblebee's mood just went from worse to worst. He beeped in annoyance as he was heading to the exit.

"Bumblebee! Where do you think you're going?!" Ratchet held him back.

_I'm going for a walk!_ the yellow bot answered back.

"You can't just go out for a walk! We are robots in disguise! Leaving the base in this form puts you at risk of being seen! And of us being discovered! You just have to remain in the silo until…" Ratchet flinched as Bumblebee tossed his hand off his shoulder.

_Until you fix me, isn't that you want to say?! _the yellow bot beeped angrily, and walked off.

"Yes, Bumblebee...until I can fix you..." Ratchet whispered sadly. He was hurt, not because of Bumblebee's harsh words, but because he was aware of his inability.

"Be strong, Ratch..." Aria approached the medic with sympathetic look.

"At time like this, I just hope I can do more, Aria..." Ratchet shut his optics painfully.

* * *

The next day was no better, Aria was left alone at base with Bulkhead and Bumblebee. The kids were at school, her father went for patrol again, Ratchet was off just a minute before to pick up the kids, since Bulkhead was on his monitor duty and Bumblebee, well...

The ponytail spent her times by browsing on the computer. The very bored Bumblebee decided to look for something to do.

_What is it? _the yellow bot asked.

"I'm looking for Cassandra Kurt, the late daughter of the Kurts, see," Aria replied as she brought up the image of Cassandra. "Here it is, wow..." she eyed the picture. Cassandra in the picture appeared to be 14 or 15 years old girl. She was dressed in old-fashioned style, a white long sleeve shirt with flower pattern skirt. Her brown hair was bundled up. "She was a beautiful young lady..." by one sight alone, Aria could tell that Cassandra was a kind girl.

Immediately, Aria felt bad about insulting the brunette girl in front of Helios. The half Autobot reminded herself, that she too, had a sister once, Arianna. Arianna was the only one who could understand her, when no one else could. "One more thing, I share in common with Adrian, or rather, Helios..."

She stood up, feeling rather frustrated. "Bulkhead, I'm going to get some fresh air. If there's anything just call me 'kay?" actually, she was planning for outdoor training.

"Got it, girl," the green bot replied back.

* * *

Raf was waiting outside the school for pickup. Then, he heard a siren, Ratchet was coming. The glasses boy quickly gathered his belonging, and hopped on to the ambulance.

"In you go," Ratchet said as the boy entered his driver cabin.

"Thanks for the lift home, friend of Jack's mum who works at the hospital!" Raf said loudly, he was pretty embarrassed to be picked up by an ambulance.

"Where are the others?" Ratchet asked.

"Jack's at work, and Miko's in detention…again," Raf sighed. "I was expecting Bulkhead."

"Well, I'm sorry to disappoint, but he's on watch duty," the CMO replied. "You wanna ride with the siren on?"

"No thank you," Raf simply replied.

* * *

Back at base, the alarm sounded.

"This could be it, alert the others," Bulkhead requested to Bumblebee.

_We can handle it!_ the yellow bot responded.

"I know we can handle it, Bumblebee. But that's no reason to…" Bulkhead sighed in frustration. "Ugh, what are you trying to prove?!"

_That I'm still useful_ Bumblebee replied, eventually made the green Wrecker loss at words.

* * *

"Ratchet…what happened to Bumblebee's voice box?" Raf suddenly asked after some moments of quietness.

"It was…severely damaged in battle," Ratchet said.

"How?"

"How do you think? Tragically, of course," Ratchet began the story. "It happened at Tyger Pax. Our brave scout was captured by Megatron's forces and interrogated. But he refused to provide intel and paid a grave price for his courage. Bumblebee was left for scrap. But Autobot troops found him and evacuated him to a triage facility where a field medic was able to stabilize his condition."

"So…we owe Bee's life to that field medic," the glasses boy summed up.

"That's…one way of looking at it, I suppose. Though the medic…could have done better," Ratchet said sadly, as he reflected back to that day. Being unable to save someone was very frustrating for the medic, who was entrusted with the well being of all the armed members.

* * *

"Clear," Bulkhead confirmed after jumping through the GroundBridge, with Bumblebee followed him close by. "I still don't know how you talked me into this. You're worse than Miko." He earned some bleeps from the scout. "Yeah, yeah, I know, I know. Not every mission ends in a high-speed pursuit. Without your…" Bulkhead cut himself.

_Say what?_ Bumblebee was rather irritated.

"OK. I'll drop it. Remember. If Optimus finds out, this was NOT my idea. Ow, if only Aria was in the base..." the green Wrecker stressed his point, as he made his way led by the scanner. "Signal's coming from over there. And it's coming our way! Fast!"

That being said, Knock Out sped past them, and immediately sped out of sight. "Catch me if you can!"

"I'll get him!" Bulkhead was about to give a chase, until Breakdown got out of cave. For Bulkhead, the blue was first, the red second. "OK! You get him!"

Bumblebee nodded eagerly, and gave chase to the red car...on foot of course. Which was, rather impossible for him to catch up with the speedy red Decepticon. But for the yellow bot, giving up wasn't even in his choice of words. Well, easier to say than done.

"Sporting of you," Knock Out mocked to the running yellow car as he put more speed.

Bumblebee tried to shoot him instead, but found out that his blasters were unavailable as well. He face palmed himself, that was right, no T-Cog meaning no transformation whatsoever, including his weapon system. He felt like he was scrapped for good.

"You're not even gonna _try_ and shoot up my tires?!" Knock Out insulted even more. "Bumblebee, where's your famous horse power, huh?! Show me some speed!"

The red medic struck a nerve to Bumblebee. Bumblebee then spotted an old junk car on the road side. He grabbed the junk car, and used it as replacement wheel to catch up with Knock Out. At least, he managed to catch up with Knock Out. But the beaten car itself, wasn't a good idea as it began to crack.

"What is with the rent-a-car?!" Knock Out cackled in amusement, smirking as the car began to fall apart under Bumblebee's weight. "I'd stick around and drive doughnuts around you! But I have a delivery to make!" he sped off and made a harsh turn on the bend.

The junk car popped a wheel as it approached the cliff side. Bumblebee tried his best to make it stop. It stopped, after crashing to the barrier railing on the cliff side. The car plummeted down the cliff, together with Bumblebee...

* * *

After some while, Bulkhead managed to get back to base with the knocked out Bumblebee. He got an earful from Ratchet after that.

"Of all the scrap ideas, taking Bumblebee into a potential chase scenario without the ability to access his wheels!" Ratchet lectured the green bot.

"Uh…he improvised," Bulkhead shrugged casually.

"Not helping, Bulk!" Aria joined in the lecture. "You could just call me if you need a back up for field work."

"Guys, Bee's waking up," Raf alerted them as Bumblebee regained consciousness.

"You've already lost your voice box and your T-Cog! Were you really trying to add your spark to the list?!" Ratchet lectured the yellow bot next.

_I'm all useless..._ Bumblebee curled on his knees and bleeped sadly.

"Don't say that, Bee! You're not useless!" Raf cut in.

"Look, I hate to break up the pity party," Arcee interrupted. "But the Decepticons just added unknown Iacon pay grade number 2 to their armory!"

"Neither blame or praise will modify past events," Optimus joined in. "We can't afford to take anymore unnecessary risks. Bumblebee, you are not to leave our base. Not until we can retrieve your missing bio mechanism." After that, the Prime walked away.

Ratchet had heard enough, something had to be done, fast. "Bumblebee is right to be less than hopeful. You and I both know another way exists to make him whole again."

"A transplant," Optimus responded. "But that would require a donor."

"You need look no further then the Autobot standing before you," Ratchet declared.

Optimus spun around in surprise. "A generous offer, old friend. But your solution would merely trade one Autobot's handicap for another's," Optimus objected.

"I don't rely upon my T-Cog like Bumblebee does. The ability to transform is truly wasted on me. This is where I spend my days. Where my thoughts and my hands are of value. Not my weapons or my wheels. Our team can't afford to be shy even one warrior in the field," Ratchet reasoned.

"You make a compelling case. But know that we will find Bumblebee's T-Cog," Optimus still objected.

"Optimus, MECH are savages. Who knows what damage they may have already inflicted on it or…if I may ever be able to repair it," Ratchet sighed sadly.

Finally, Optimus knew what Ratchet was being bothered by. "Ratchet, you did everything you could."

"Oh! Please! Do you really think this is simply about my inability to restore Bumblebee's voice box?!" Ratchet scoffed. "I just want to do right for our scout, for the team."

* * *

On Nemesis, Knock Out was reporting back to Knock Out.

"Ah, excellent work, Knock Out," Megatron complimented as Knock Out held up the staff-like stuff.

"I live to serve, Lord Megatron," Knock Out bowed. "But what exactly is it?"

Megatron didn't respond by himself. His cannon did the talking as it fired a shot to Knock Out. Shocked, the red medic unconsciously held up the staff in front of him. Surprisingly, the staff produced a shield which protected Knock Out from the blast.

"Now you know," Megatron added.

"I think...I leaked a little transmission fluid," Knock Out was still shaking.

* * *

"Source located."

By Starscream's guidance, MECH finally got their hands on raw energon deposit. Silas was there, so was the Seeker jet, and his endless babbling.

"Yes, gratifying isn't it, Silas? I often advised Megatron to seek out human allies. After all, it seems to provide the Autobots an occasional edge," Starscream pointed out. "Despite his reputation as a brilliant strategist, Megatron is woefully small-minded when it comes to working with minds smaller than our own. He was simply referring to head size."

"Do you ever not speak?" Silas asked in irritation, as he walked away.

"Did I mention how I extinguished an Autobot?" Starscream boasted to the remaining MECH agent, only to have him walk away. When Starscream followed, he saw that they have found the deposit. "Energon in its purest state."

"Ready to be mined," Silas smirked.

"And processed," Starscream piped in, "My flesh-covered compatriot, to give us the edge."

* * *

Back in Autobot base, a surgery plan was about to be unfold.

"Obviously, since I'm the other patient involved, I will be unable to perform the surgery. Therefore, one of you must serve as my proxy," Ratchet began to list the remaining Autobots. He first looked at Bulkhead. "Mm-mm. Better at breaking things."

Bulkhead sighed in relief.

Then Aria. "Still a rookie, and not tall enough to reach my frame. You can be an assistant though." Finally, the medic made up his mind. "Arcee."

Which made the said femme widened her eyes. "Optimus has steadier hands," Arcee objected.

"Steady, but much too large to be rooting around beneath my hood," Ratchet ended the argument.

"Arcee, you can do this. You're as steely as they come," Jack reassured Arcee.

"On a battlefield. Not in an operating theatre," Arcee retorted.

"Same thing as long as you're behind the knife. Not under it," Jack argued.

"Don't worry, Miss Arcee. I'm right at your side, although my experience is still not enough," Aria sighed, she knew very well that she wasn't up for a surgery yet.

"Does this mean Bumblebee's gonna transform into an ambulance from now on and be all cranky? 'Cause that will be weird," Miko remarked.

After a while, the surgery was about to begin. Aria was helping with the monitor while Arcee hooked up Ratchet and Bumblebee with machines.

"Inducing stasis," Arcee reported.

_Thank you, Ratchet_ Bumblebee bleeped.

"You can thank me...when it's over," Ratchet murmured before slipping into stasis.

"Sweet dream, Ratch," Aria commented with a grin.

"Okay, Bumblebee, your turn..." Arcee was rather tense for that. Even though she was having an assistant, she couldn't help but feeling nervous.

Until an alarm went off and blaring.

"What's happening?!" Raf asked.

"Ratchet's flatlining!" Miko screamed.

"No, he isn't!" Arcee cut in.

"It's just Iacon alarm, Miko," Aria added.

"If we're picking up the signal, it means the 'Cons have unearthed another relic!" Bulkhead went alert.

"Autobots, prepare to roll out!" Optimus instructed.

"Yes!" Arcee sighed in relief.

"Miss Arcee, doesn't mean the surgery's cancelled, just postponed," Aria reminded her mentor.

"Yeah, right..." the blue bike scoffed.

Bumblebee also stood up and being fired up.

"Except for our patients," Optimus added, eventually bringing the mood down again. "It would be best to interrupt stasis. Aria, you remain here."

"Me too? Oh, well..." Aria sighed heavily, she really wanted to join the investigation. As Optimus and the others departed from the GroundBridge, Aria started to tend to Ratchet. "It will be a while before he wakes up..."

"Wanna do some blackmail material?" Miko held up a big marker on her hands.

"Not now, Miko," Aria protested. She would be fine pranking, with the exception of Arcee, Optimus, and Ratchet. Suddenly, the Iacon alert beeped again, detecting second relic. "Primus, buy 1 get 1 free..." she muttered before checking out the coordinates.

"We should alert Optimus," Raf suggested.

"Father is occupied, looks like we have to handle this on our own..." the sea-green femme walked to the still unconscious Ratchet. "Come on Ratch, wake up!" she grabbed the medic's shoulder and shook him violently. But, it was in vain. "Fine, I'll go. Bumblebee, you stay here. No argument, you monitor the GroundBridge," Aria walked to the GroundBridge panel and turned it on. "Roll out!" she transformed first to human, popped out her roller skates, and wheeled off.

* * *

Aria arrived at the location of second relic, it was at the mountain side. It didn't took her very long to locate it, as she spotted a red spot from far away. "Helios?" she got her jackpot, Helios was there.

The half Decepticon was uncovering the second relic, in the shape of remote control. "What is this...?" he eyed the green and weird shaped remote.

"Hologram projector," the voice of Aria startled him. She was already in Autobot form, and standing behind him. "Back in War of Cybertron, it was used to create illusion to fool nearby enemies, you know. Only saw the image of it in Hall of Record. Pretty much a smart device for..." her smile faded as the vermillion mech dropped the remote, and stared at her with murderous glare.

Without a warning, Helios brought out his cannon, and fired multiple white blasts to the girl. Aria leapt to dodge and shielded herself with small force field for the last shot. "Oh good, you're still up for it?" she murmured, she knew that Helios didn't forget old grudge.

* * *

"_Prime! Breaking news!_" Fowler contacted Autobot base, but much to his dismay, only Bumblebee the remaining Autobot there. "_Huh? Where's Prime?_" but he didn't understand any of Bumblebee's beep. _Look. Let him know I just received access to satellite imagery, which pinpoints the centre of operations of MECH. Oh for the love of...! Get me someone who speaks something other than bleep!_"

"I can help," Raf offered, before he flinched by the shouting of Ratchet.

"What?! Do I hear a fuzor in need of voice box repair?!"

"_What's a fuzor?! What's going on over there?!_"

Ratchet was still in his dream yard state. "I am unable! Just ask Bantor! He was all mentor before I put a trigger on his tank...!" after that, he passed out again, making Fowler even more confused.

Bumblebee decided to go after MECH.

"But Bee! You heard what Optimus said about leaving the base," Raf immediately objected.

"Send the coordinates, Agent Fowler. We'll make sure Optimus gets them," Jack cut in.

* * *

Optimus and his teams were scaling up an icy mountain. On the top of it, Breakdown and Knock Out were in middle of unearthing the relic.

"I don't get it. All this chipping away with my hammer…just to bring Megatron another hammer?" Breakdown said in confusion.

"That hammer is a sacred relic of the Thirteen Original Primes," Optimus explained.

"Really?!" Bulkhead said in surprise.

"Isn't that the opposite of Decepticon doomsday device?" Arcee asked.

"It would stand to reason that in addition to confiscated Decepticon artillery, any artifacts of great significance from the Vaults of Iacon would have been shipped off world. And none would be greater than this. The Forge of Solus Prime, for it holds the power to mystically infuse material with working mechanisms," Optimus explained.

"As in, if we had it, we could pound any weapon we dream of into existence?!" Bulkhead asked again.

"Or possibly construct a new T-Cog for Bumblebee," Optimus added.

* * *

Aria's situation was no good, she was skating on the cliff side when Helios was hunting her from mid-air. "Why the Decepticons always get the good thing?!" she mentioned to Helios' flight ability. The sea-green yelped a bit as the vermillion boy showered her from above with white blasts.

"_Focus on what you initially try to achieve, not to be blinded by sudden turnout which could jeopardize your judgement."_

"Okay, father," Aria said before turning around, she needed to think of something, fast. She knew that she needed to bring that boy down. Then, she got an idea, Aria skated down at the cliff wall. As she expected, Helios followed her. As soon as he was in right place, the girl spun and rolled upward. Eventually, she was at same level as Helios, with a jump, she kicked Helios.

The boy crashed to the cliff wall, and eventually rolled down. Aria knew that Helios wouldn't go down by that cheap attack. She immediately rushed to the rollout point, but as she did so, Helios emerged from the dust cloud. He hovered in mid air, and seemed to be very pissed off.

"All I need is for you to listen to me, is that really hard?!" Aria yelled out. "I want to say sorry, for what I said about your sister before!"

Helios widened his eyes, that girl eventually apologized. But that alone didn't sate his anger. "Do you really think sorry is enough?!" the boy yelled back. He rocketed forward, attempted to hammer the girl with his body.

Aria stood her ground, and as Helios approached, she grabbed Helios' shoulder and prevented him from rocketing her. But that made the White Autobot pinned forcefully to the cliff wall. Aria used the closure chance, to sent a powerful punch to Helios' face. Finally, she managed to land a hit on her rival.

But Helios was a tough nut, he was back on his feet, and attacked again. "Cassandra was very important to me!" he cried out as he sent a series of punches. "My dad and mom treated me like a shipping good, but Cassandra didn't! She was the only one who truly loved and cared about me! But in the end, she was gone forever!"

Aria dodged every bit of the punches. Helios' voice was bit cracked as he made the confession. Aria was glad that Helios finally said about his feeling, but at the same time, the girl's spark was aching terribly.

* * *

"Initiate transfusion," Silas instructed.

The surgeon then transferred the energon they processed to their robot. Much to their delight, the robot started to work.

"It's working!" Silas gasped.

"The energon will do wonders to our future army!" Starscream smirked before noticing that Silas was glaring at him. "_Your_ future army. In fact, we are mere moments from beholding the miracle of transformation."

That was when Bumblebee burst into the base. The yellow bot was rather surprised to see Starscream was there. Immediately, all MECH soldiers took their weapon and aimed it at Bumblebee.

"No T-Cog. He's unarmed," Starscream then fired off his missile.

Bumblebee jumped to dodge the missile. He took one barrel and used it to knock Starscream over. But then, he was showered by MECH's weapons.

* * *

At last, Breakdown was able to completely exposed the Forge from the rubble.

"Time to get a grip," Knock Out said.

But not for long, Optimus and his teams rolled forward and started the open fire. Knock Out immediately put his shield generator into use, he used it to shield from Optimus' and Arcee's firings. Meanwhile, Bulkhead sped forward, transformed, and whacked Breakdown with his wrecking ball. As Optimus and Arcee inched closer, Knock Out expanded his shield, and knocked the two backward.

"Autobots, check out my new finish protector!" Knock Out smirked.

* * *

Helios grabbed Aria's neck and pinned her against rock wall. The boy was about to kill.

"How dare of you to speak of Cassandra like that...?" Helios hissed dangerously. "I'll make you understand what I meant...!"

Aria was determined not to lose for the third time. She deployed her blaster and blasted the White Decepticon away. When Helios struggled to stand up, she dashed forward, and sent an uppercut right to his jaw. Eventually, Helios rolled backward.

"I know what you feel, Adrian. I too, had a big sister once. She was my very first family. She died at the times when I needed her most!" Aria yelled.

Helios was baffled, and he froze in his place. She called him Adrian.

"Think only you who have the sad story? Believe me, mine is no better," Aria closed her eyes briefly, her fist clenched.

Helios was silent, but he knew better than trusting an enemy that easy, even though the girl before him was suffering same fate as him. "Don't think I'm going to buy all of your trick words!" he said as he stood back up.

"I'm not expecting that either. I just want you to understand, that I'm not going to fight you, before I get clear of everything," Aria stated. "First of all, why did you join the Decepticons?"

"Isn't that obvious? They found me, after I was left to die by those scrap head scientists."

"You mean, you're grateful?" the half Autobot asked further.

"Not really, but it's all I need," Helios replied. "My family will know, that I'm not a thing they can toy around. That I'm not a trash."

"You mean, you want some payback?" Aria inquired further. "Wow, with your steel arms and Megatron on your arsenal now, it's pretty easy task I tell you. Then, what's the holdup?"

Helios went silent. It was true, he was planning on some payback to the Kurts. But every time he thought about it, Cassandra always got into his mind. And, his evil plan, ceased away once he thought about her. His mind then reflected back to the day when Cassandra left him for good.

_"I'm sorry Mr. Alfredo, but there's nothing we can do right now. Your daughter, is almost up the time."_

_"This can't be happening..." the 13 years old Adrian clutching the hand of dying girl. "You will get better, you already promise me, Cas...!"_

_"Adrian..." Cassandra whispered weakly. "Everything will be alright..."_

_"What do you mean by 'alright'?!" Adrian cried out. _

_"If...I'm gone...then you will be the main heir of our family. This is the chance given for you, Adrian..." the girl responded._

_"No, I don't care about it! Please don't die, sis. DON'T DIE!"_

_"I love you Adrian, and I'll never forget you, forever. When I'm gone, you will be entrusted with the duty of our family in the future. I want you...to be a great man one day. Prove it, to dad and everyone else, that you can be useful..."_

* * *

Meanwhile, Bumblebee was still tumbling up and down with MECH soldier. Those perky humans were relentless. The yellow bot jumped up, and rolled another barrel to thwart the rest of the soldiers. After thwarting the armed humans, he leapt off, climbed on top of the robot and started ripping it apart. There it was, his T-cog. He finally grabbed it, but then Starscream shot him away, and eventually making him losing grip.

"So close, and yet..." Starscream smirked.

"My location and prototype have been compromised. Destroy the intruders and meet me at the rendezvous point with my T-Cog," Silas instructed before running away.

"I AM NOT ONE OF YOUR FOOT SOLDIERS! I AM THE CONSULTANT!" Starscream snapped.

Bumblebee finally regained consciousness, and faced off with Starscream.

"One step from either of you and your precious biomech is scrap," he took the T-cog as hostage.

* * *

Ratchet finally regained consciousness inside the base.

"Ratchet, how are you feeling?" Jack asked.

"Fine. I feel as though nothing's changed," Ratchet answered, causing Jack, Miko and Raf to glance at each other nervously.

"_Prime!_" it was Fowler again.

"What is it, Agent Fowler?" Ratchet answered.

"_Has Prime reached the coordinates?_"

"Coordinates?" Ratchet repeated in confusion.

"_Possible MECH location! I sent them a half hour ago!_"

"Don't worry, Agent Fowler. It's all taken care of," Jack reassured him.

"Optimus had to go lock fenders with some 'Cons," Miko added.

"So...Bumblebee went instead," Raf slipped out.

"WHAT?!" Ratchet gasped in disbelief. "BUMBLEBEE CAN'T DO THAT! He's recovering from surgery!"

"About that..." Jack trailed off.

* * *

"_Aria, where are you?!"_

The sea-green femme was rather surprised. "Ratch, you wake up already?"

"_Retrieve the Iacon relic immediately and return to base! We've pinpointed the source of MECH activity, Bumblebee is already there!"__  
_

"What?" Aria gaped, what was happening when she was absent?

* * *

_Give back my T-cog..._Bumblebee threatened.

"Or else what?" Starscream challenged. "You'll shoot? How sad to be incapable of achieving vehicle mode. Experiencing the sensation of speed. How very pathetic. To be a failure as an Autobot."

Bumblebee was having it enough, so he charged ahead, and punched the Seeker right on the face. Starscream didn't expect it at all. The T-cog was flying high in the air, and the yellow bot jumped to catch it. However, before he could reach it, Starscream shot it with his blasters.

"Time to jet! Because I can!" Starscream announced as he took off.

Bumblebee picked up his damaged T-cog, and looked at it sadly.

"My T-Cog," Silas requested when Starscream met up with him.

"Yes. That… unfortunately it was destroyed in the ferocity of battle," Starscream announced sadly, earning Silas' murderous glare, "A temporary setback. More Autobots, other T-Cogs. We shall find a replacement soon enough."

"Not soon enough," Silas decided that enough was enough. "Now."

The soldiers soon surrounded him with guns pointed.

"_NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO !_"

* * *

Knock Out decided to improvise the use of the shield generator, he expanded it, and used it to push Optimus and Arcee to the cliff. The two Autobots backed off until there was no more footing behind their feet.

"For the most creative use of a shield generator in a supporting role, the winner is…KNOCK OUT!" Knock Out announced proudly.

* * *

"Father...!" Aria widened her eyes, the Heart of Wisdom inside Optimus alerted her that the Prime was in danger. "Oh great..." she murmured. Her father was in trouble, so was her teammate. And, the sea-green femme was in middle of her own trouble.

"The Prime is in danger, isn't he?" Helios spoke all of the sudden. He too, could feel it since his White nature connected him with the Heart as well. However, he had no interest with the Autobots. "You'd better hand that thing to me, so I can let you go and save them."

The hologram projector was still lying behind them. Aria still wanted to resume their fight, however, emergency first. The sea-green femme deployed her wheels and sped up to reach the remote projector first. As expected, Helios rocketed forward and tried to slam the girl. Aria quickly spun around, and casted a force field.

"Sorry, but I cannot let you to get the prize," Aria apologized as Helios came to the stop before he slammed to the force field.

"Then I'll take it by force," Helios deployed his swords, and began to slash the force field before him.

Aria knew she couldn't keep the barrier for long. She quickly picked up the hologram projector and used it for her escape. The half Autobot created a hologram of mountain in front of her. "Ratchet, GroundBridge now!"

"WHAT?!" Helios was baffled as a mountain suddenly appeared before him. But he quickly realized that it was merely hologram. Seconds later, the hologram disappeared, so did Aria and the hologram projector. "Scrap...!" he muttered angrily. His boss wouldn't be happy with this.

* * *

Bulkhead was still in middle of brawl. Breakdown tossed him aside again. The green Wrecker noticed that his teammates were in trouble. He turned his attention to the Forge, and decided to use the new weapon. Bulkhead went and lifted the very heavy hammer, and presented it to his rival.

"Mine's bigger," Bulkhead smirked.

Breakdown charged at him again, Bulkhead just smacked him like a golf ball. Breakdown rolled backward and tumbled at Knock Out as the result. Thanks to it, the shield died down, Optimus and Arcee were saved. But not for long, a GroundBridge portal appeared, altogether with a blast shot a direct score to Bulkhead. Megatron was the culprit.

"BULKHEAD!" Arcee cried out, she and Optimus aimed their weapons to the Decepticon leader.

"Ah ah ah," Megatron threatened as he picked up the Forge and pointed his cannon to the downed Bulkhead. "A relic of the Prime's here on Earth?! The Decepticon cause is once again indebted to the contributions of Orion Pax," Megatron smirked as he walked through the GroundBridge with Knock Out and Breakdown rolled behind him.

"I'm fine," Bulkhead reassured the worried Arcee.

"_Optimus, we have reason to believe we have located MECH's centre of operations. Bumblebee is already there," _the transmission from Ratchet widened the Prime's eyes.

* * *

When Starscream came by, he was all alone at the forest, the MECH goons were gone. He stood up, just when a GroundBridge portal from the Autobot base appeared.

"Autobots!" he was about to transform, but realized that he couldn't. "My T-cog!" having no choice, he decided to run on foot.

* * *

Optimus' team together with Aria appeared at MECH base operation. There, they met up with Bumblebee who held his damaged T-cog.

"Oh no..." Aria gasped at it.

"Ratchet, reopen the GroundBridge and prepare for surgery," Optimus requested.

"And thanks to me, Megatron has the Forge," Bulkhead sighed sadly.

"While we would have put the Forge of Solus Prime to valuable use, I do not have a reason to fear Megatron's possession of it," Optimus replied.

* * *

Optimus was quite right. Megatron tried to create a super weapon using the Forge, but for some reason, he couldn't.

"It doesn't look like a Fortress Maximus Grade Nucleon Shock Canon," Knock Out observed.

"It confirmed my original suspicions. Without the power of a Prime to activate it, the Forge is merely another addition to our tool chest. One we must, nonetheless, keep as far as way as possible from the reach of a Prime," Megatron saw the positive of their result, at least.

* * *

Back on Autobot base, Ratchet finished installing Bumblebee's T-cog. The medic was rather uncertain if he could make the scout whole again.

"I did what I could," stated Ratchet.

"Our scout could not have been in better hands, old friend," Optimus reassured as he laid a hand on Ratchet's shoulder.

"And we didn't stick with Plan A and let Ratchet donate his cog, why?" Miko asked.

"Bumblebee wouldn't accept it," Jack answered.

"Bumblebee, easy," Ratchet warned as Bumblebee stood up. "Please, recovery takes time."

Bumblebee decided to try transforming. First of all, he needed his weapons, so he tried to deploy his blasters. But, he couldn't. He looked at Ratchet sadly.

"You said it, recovery takes time," Aria sighed, although she feared that they might fail after all.

"The damage was…severe," Ratchet sighed sadly.

Bumblebee wasn't giving up, he decided to transform to his vehicle mode. And surprisingly, he finally succeeded, much to everyone's delight. He did some U turn, before opening his door and blaring horn.

"Anywhere!" the delighted Raf jumped onto the seat. "Just drive!" and then, the two took off from the base.

"Go easy! Adhere to standard breaking procedure!" Ratchet couldn't help but laugh in amusement and satisfaction.

"Whoa! Bee's T-Cog looked like it was ready for the scrapyard," Bulkhead remarked.

"Hard to believe the Doc repaired it," Arcee smiled.

"That is not all Ratchet repaired today," Optimus added with a smile on his face.

Aria also allowed herself for a smile. Then as she realized that one major problem was taken care of, she went back to her own deep thought.

"That's right, we haven't seen what Aria brought us for today," Bulkhead changed the topic.

"Well, it's a hologram projector," Ratchet replied.

"Hologram, you mean, like Arcee's Sadie?" Jack asked.

"You can say that, although this projector is capable of casting a huge amount of holograms instead of one," the medic said as he examined the remote control.

"You did it, big girl!" Miko thrusted her fists to the air, but her smile faded as she saw Aria's smug face.

"What's the matter, Aria?" Arcee crouched down. "You got the Iacon relic this time."

"Maybe, but not the score from Helios," Aria sighed.

"You met with that boy again?" the green Wrecker widened his eyes in surprise.

"Yeah, just when I thought I was close..." the ponytail murmured sadly. Then, she heard Parthonus' voice inside her head.

_The Third is engulfed in darkness. However, there is one small light inside his spark_

_It is small, but big potential_

_He will fall to either side, with or without your interference. Your own choice, is up to you, Fourth_

"I know," Aria said mentally.


	11. Loose Cannons

"_I would prefer even to fail with honor than win by cheating"_

_Sophocles _

* * *

"What do you mean he knew?" Arcee asked to Aria.

"As I said, Helios is a White Cybertronian too. Meaning, he could detect the presence of Heart of Wisdom inside my father," Aria pointed her thumb to Optimus.

"Good, can we do something to shield the radiance?" Jack said. "If the Cons could get our exact location, then..."

"Heart of Wisdom isn't some kind of radar, it's a connection, Jack. But relax, the extent of the connection depends heavily on our ability. Right now, I and Helios are merely rookies. We can tell if the Prime is in danger, but we cannot yet detect the precise location. It takes a millennia of experience, you know," Aria shrugged.

"_Prime!_" the voice of Fowler boomed the comm link...again. "_What in blazes are your people doing out here?! We had an agreement! No collateral damage!"_

_"I am sorry, Agent Fowler. But all Autobots are present and accounted for," _Optimus gestured to all his team members and Aria his daughter.

"And half Autobot," Aria pointed to herself.

"_Then explain why I'm receiving reports of two Jumbo-sized 'Bots mixing it up 20 miles outside Omaha!_"

"Decepticons?" Ratchet guessed.

"There has been plenty of infighting lately," Arcee pointed out.

"I can't be more surprised. If there's one thing Megatron can't do, it's keep his ranks in line," Aria shrugged.

"_Well, I'm just arriving on the scene. Have a look._"

The image there showed them a Decepticon they had never seen before. He was painted mainly in blue, gold, and his eyes were red.

"I don't know. Paint job aside, it can't be Skyquake. You and Optimus pounded him into the ground," Bulkhead guessed.

"Then Starscream transformed him into a walking zombie, some kind of Terracon. But the question remains. Who's the dance partner?" Arcee asked.

Then they inspected the dance partner. They could recognize the mech pretty easy.

"By the AllSpark!" Ratchet gasped. "It is one of ours!"

"Wheeljack! Ha ha! Jackie's back!" Bulkhead cackled and slapped Bumblebee, Arcee, and Ratchet in the back.

"_I don't care if Abraham Lincoln's back! You have to contain the situation before we all wind up on the 11 o'clock news!_"

* * *

And so, at the said location, the situation was pretty hot. If we included Wheeljack, it would be hellish hot. Both of the mechs exchanged fires to each other.

"You've got nowhere left to run, 'Con!" Wheeljack growled. He looked up to see Fowler's jet coming in. Assuming that thing was an enemy, he sent a couple of fires upward.

"_This is Special Agent William Fowler of the-! WHOA! Stand down, hothead! I'm on your side!_" the black agent maneuvered and tried to shoot the blue Con. But the blue Con just took cover, and fired the payback when he had the chance.

"I had a feeling the gang might show," Wheeljack heard the GroundBridge open and Optimus, Arcee, Bulkhead and Bumblebee race through. He spotted one sea-green armored femme that he hadn't seen before. All of them opened fire to the blue Con.

"Jackie!" Bulkhead helped his old friend to stand up.

Feeling outnumbered, the blue Con decided to retreat. He spotted Fowler's jet, and got an idea.

"That will do," he said as he scanned the jet.

"Oh! Not this again!" Fowler moaned.

"Oh no you don't!" Wheeljack wasn't going to let his prey getting away, and he was about to shoot again.

"Wheeljack!" Optimus warned.

"Jackie! No!" Bulkhead tried to prevent, but Wheeljack already sent a couple of shots. Some of it hit the nearby gas station, and causing it to explode. The blue Con wasn't harmed at all, he just transformed and flew away.

"No good..." Aria moaned to the fireball.

"Dreadwing rigged the place to blow," Wheeljack snarled.

"Dreadwing?!" Bulkhead repeated in surprise.

"Actually, that was _your _handiwork, sparky," Arcee cut in as she and Bumblebee stepped forward.

"It's called a gas station. Kinda like an Energon depo. Doesn't mix well with blaster fire," Bulkhead explained.

"Huh, well, our 'Con's getting away," Wheeljack said as he was about to give a chase. But Optimus stopped him.

"Wheeljack, there are other considerations. While upon this world, you would do well to follow my lead," Optimus advised.

* * *

They were back at base, Wheeljack was being tended by Ratchet.

"How come you can be so tiny, girl?" Wheeljack was rather surprised as he witnessed Aria changed from Autobot mode to human form. And he still couldn't believe it that there was half Autobot half human existing.

"It's kinda long story," Aria replied, it was her first time meeting with Bulkhead's buddy. "You are...Wheeljack. You're bulkier than I thought previously. Bulkhead told me a lot about you."

"Nice comment from you, half fleshing," Wheeljack said. "Ow! Take it easy, doc! I need that arm!" the Wrecker flinched.

"Hold still and maybe, you'll keep it," Ratchet retorted as he resumed his work.

"Wheeljack, you would do well to watch your words around my daughter as well," Optimus warned.

"Really? Then Commander, apologies for the fireworks and the words I threw to your little girl. Won't happen again. But I've tracked Dreadwing across a hundred light years of space..." Wheeljack trailed off.

"I thought you were roaming the galaxy, searching for Autobot refugees," Bulkhead cut in.

"I was until I found one. A Wrecker," Wheeljack replied.

"Who?" Bulkhead was interested immediately.

"Seaspray," Wheeljack answered.

Bulkhead cackled before asking, "How is ol' Barnacle Butt?"

"Not so good, Bulk. Blown to bits, actually," Wheeljack replied sadly.

"What, no..." Bulkhead gasped in horror. Optimus and Arcee shut their optics painfully, another one of their own perished again.

"Dreadwing," Optimus stated the obvious.

"My flyer, the Jackhammer, picked up Seaspray's signal a couple of light years away from Madarin. We made contact and arranged to rendezvous in the Dromedon system. But Dreadwing must have intercepted the transmission. 'Cause he got to Seaspray first. A proximity bomb built to take us both out. Guess I should be glad the Jackhammer could take a punch. I picked up Dreadwing's ion trail. Tracked him through a dozen solar systems before catching up to him. Then he led me right back to this marble," Wheeljack told his story, "Some coincidence, huh?"

"Who is this Dreadwing?" Aria asked.

"I know of this Dreadwing. He was captain of a Seeker Armada…and as such, like his twin Skyquake, fiercely loyal to the Decepticon cause. Dreadwing has no doubt travelled to Earth to pay allegiance to his one true master," Optimus answered.

"Hope he's enjoyed the visit," Wheeljack remarked as he stood up. "It's gonna be his last!"

"Wheeljack, this planet is heavily inhabited. Any strike we make against the Decepticons must be carefully measured as a team. Lest we risk endangering the human population," Optimus intervened.

"You suggesting we sit back and do nothing?!" Wheeljack wasn't happy at all.

"You! Loose cannon!" Fowler was in no good mood as he came inside the base. "Your cowboy antics almost blew our cover!"

"Cover?" Wheeljack asked in confusion.

"We're robots in disguise, Jackie," Bulkhead clarified.

"That means, if you want to get out of this place, you have to have Earth-based vehicle form," Aria piped in.

"That spaceship you shot down, not Earth-based! I had to jump through some big hoops to get it hauled out of plain sight!" Fowler told them, clearly angry, "You need to keep a tighter leash on your people, Prime!"

"A tighter leash?! Let me clarify, tiny," Wheeljack walked closer to the black agent.

"Jackie," Bulkhead warned.

Wheeljack leaned in close and hissed dangerously, "I'm _not_ one of Optimus Prime's people!" after that, he walked away.

"I'll talk to him," Bulkhead said, before turning to Optimus. "With your permission."

"Of course," Optimus nodded as Bulkhead left.

"So the new guy has a problem with authority," Fowler stated.

"Wheeljack and Bulkhead served together in the Wreckers, a combat unit that operated outside the normal chain of command," Optimus explained.

"Black Ops," Fowler concluded.

"The Wreckers were brave enough to accept missions that no one else would. Many didn't come back."

* * *

Dreadwing sent out his beacon for Decepticon warship. As the ship was in sight, Dreadwing transformed, and got inside the ship. And there, he paid his visit to his master.

"Lord Megatron, I live to serve," Dreadwing bowed in front of Megatron.

"Rise, Dreadwing. Loyalty such as yours is such a rare commodity," Megatron stated as Dreadwing rose to his feet.

"Mine runs deep and true. Yet, it is not loyalty alone that brought me here," Dreadwing replied back.

"Oh?" Megatron asked.

"I seek confirmation of the demise of one I whom considered a brother," Dreadwing requested, referring to his twin Skyquake.

"How did you learn of his passing?" Megatron wanted to know.

"My twin and I shared a split spark and metal but two halves of the same life force. Even from across the galaxy, I sensed when he emerged from stasis on another planet. And when his spark was no more…," Dreadwing trailed off.

"It is true. Skyquake perished at the hands of the Autobots. Though not, in fact, under my watch," Megatron confirmed Dreadwing's suspicions, as Soundwave brought up the footage of that day.

"Then by the pit, every last Autobot on this accursed world will pay," Dreadwing swore.

"The Autobots will be punished for their crime and many others how and when_ I_ see fit," Megatron explained.

"Master...!" Dreadwing began to object.

"Conflicting agendas will result in chaos and failure. You will be wise to remember that, Dreadwing. You are under my command now. And as such, you must follow my lead," Megatron ended the argument.

* * *

Bulkhead was meeting with Wheeljack outside the base.

"Jackie, look, even if it weren't for the humans, we couldn't take on the 'Cons right now," Bulkhead tried to explain. "We're outnumbered."

"Roadbuster, Impactor, Rotostorm, Seaspray...all dust," Wheeljack snarled.

"That's what I'm talking about. Wrecker's are Autobots. There's just not that many of us left. If we get behind Optimus, we have a chance to end this once and for all," Bulkhead continued.

"Guys like Optimus, they talk a good game. But when you're in the scrap, they don't wanna get their hands dirty," Wheeljack jerked.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. You don't know Optimus like I do. Being a Wrecker meant everything to me, but I left that behind," Bulkhead began.

"And Prime was the real deal, blah...blah...blah..." Wheeljack finished in annoyance.

"_Wheeljack!_" the voice came from Jackhammer's comm link. Eventually the two mechs outside heard it. "_I know you're out there listening! I have a proposition for you!_"

"Is that…?" Bulkhead began asking.

"Dreadwing," Wheeljack growled.

"_Meet me at these coordinates…if you have the spark._"

"I'll see you there, 'Con…just to watch you fry," Wheeljack decided to take it, and sat behind the cockpit.

"Jackie, it's a trap," Bulkhead warned.

"I know. But when has that ever stopped me?" Wheeljack started the engine. "You coming with?"

"At least let me call for backup," Bulkhead sat next to Wheeljack.

"You know Wreckers don't call for backup," Wheeljack began.

"They call for cleanup!" Bulkhead and Wheeljack then threw a high-five. They soared to the night sky.

* * *

Wheeljack approached Dreadwing in the jungle.

"I wasn't certain you'd come," Dreadwing greeted.

"I don't like unfinished business," Wheeljack finished.

And the duel began. First, both of them showed each of their fireworks, Dreadwing threw his bomb and Wheeljack with his grenade. After the blast died down, Wheeljack jumped with two of his samurai swords. He launched at Dreadwing, but the blue Con just leapt to dodge it. Dreadwing took refuge to lower cliff, and led the Wrecker to a canyon. There, there was a trap, several proximity bombs already being set up. Dreadwing pushed his remote to blow one off.

Which was barely dodged by Wheeljack. "That all you've got?"

Not really, since Dreadwing detonated another one. Eventually, they came to dead end, with the way out was only on top.

"If you're thinking about flying out of here..." Wheeljack began.

"Think again," Bulkhead was on the top, with his cannons ready.

Dreadwing turned around, and he just smirked. Turned out, there was a bomb just right below Bulkhead's feet.

"BULKHEAD!" Wheeljack cried out.

Dreadwing blew that one off, causing Bulkhead to plummet and the rocks fell on top of them. They were buried under the rubbles.

* * *

Back at base, everyone was getting suspicious as Bulkhead and Wheeljack hadn't returned yet.

"Bulkhead's signal, over 1000 miles from here," Ratchet stated as he looked at his monitor. "We have to imagine that Wheeljack's with him."

"Have you attempted contact?" Optimus asked.

"No response," Ratchet responded.

"Great, what are those two doing now...?" Aria put her hands on her hip. "I just hope they're not blowing anything again out there..."

"Ratchet, open the GroundBridge, I will head to the place," Optimus said.

"Without back up?" Aria pointed to herself. "You never know when you will require a healer in the field."

* * *

Wheeljack freed himself from the rubble, and he knew that someone was there, helping him.

"What took you so long, Bulk? Don't tell me that you're riding with Prime has made you..." Wheeljack cut his words, it wasn't Bulkhead. Optimus and Aria stood before him instead. "Soft?" he received the hand from the Prime and stood up. He flinched as his left knee was aching.

"You're hurt," Aria pointed out.

"It's no big deal," Wheeljack shrugged it off.

"If you will not take orders from me, that's one thing. But when you place one of my Autobots in danger…" Optimus began.

"With all due respects, sir, Bulkhead knew the risks. Every Wrecker does," Wheeljack excused. "I'm sure he's just...somewhere in this rubble."

"You really think that's gonna help the situation?" Aria stepped forward.

"Kid, I believe you're not old enough to question an adult's choice. In fact, I don't believe that you know it," Wheeljack snarled.

"Maybe, but I have a duty to carry. And it's my right to question your choice, Wheeljack," Aria retorted. She was aware that she was entrusted with the duty from Holy Saint, and she was taking it seriously.

"_Optimus, Aria, Bulkhead's signal has moved from your current position!_" Ratchet informed them.

Wheeljack decided it was time for takeoff. "You two coming with?"

The journey inside the Jackhammer was a silent one. Since that ship was rather small for three bots, Aria decided to shift back to her human form for a while. She was sitting on Optimus lap, and the ponytail could see just how uncomfortable her father was. The Prime was tapping his own knees in boredom.

"You and Bulkhead share quite a history," Optimus stated, trying to make conversation with the former Wrecker, "And yet you prefer to work alone."

"The Wreckers scattered a long time ago. And alone's usually a lot less complicated," Wheeljack replied shortly.

"_And less efficient, I'd say..."_ Aria thought, but she decided not to say it out loud.

* * *

They followed Bulkhead's signal and arrived at a shipping port. The three of them then walked between containers. Wheeljack was holding the scanner, Optimus and Aria were watching their back.

"We are close to population," Optimus warned Wheeljack. "Remember..."

"Blaster and fuel pumps don't mix," Wheeljack finished "Our boy's just up ahead." His scanner beeped crazily. They turned left, and gasped to find Bulkhead strapped to containers...with a bomb on his chest.

"Hey, guys," Bulkhead greeted weakly.

"BULKHEAD!" Aria screamed aloud in horror.

"Scrap," Wheeljack cursed aloud. He then walked closer to the green bot. "You've really got yourself in a heap of scrap this time, partner."

"Stay back, Jackie," Bulkhead warned.

"Bulk...!" Aria was about to walk closer, but Optimus prevented her. "Father...?!"

"Better get to work," Wheeljack remarked as he opened the ticking time bomb.

"Have you defused one of these before?" Optimus asked worriedly, his hand was still covering his daughter.

Wheeljack examined the bomb. "Fail safes, dummy leads, booby traps, it's a work of art."

"I'll take that as no," Aria grunted in annoyance.

* * *

Meanwhile, Dreadwing was observing from far away. That was when Megatron contacted him.

"_Dreadwing, where are you?_"

"Merely pursuing my destiny, Lord Megatron," Dreadwing answered.

"_Did I not order you to stand down?!_" Megatron growled.

"Forgive me, one true master. But it is my hope that vanquishing Optimus Prime and his daughter will earn your respect," Dreadwing merely answered.

"_Optimus is not so easily disposed of as I keep trying to explain to all of those who foolishly attempt it. Especially we all know the fact that he has a daughter. Did I not mention to you that his daughter is a White Cybertronian, a reincarnation of the Holy Saint?! She is not to be underestimated, even if she is merely a youngling."_

* * *

"Jackie, if you don't abort, we're both gonna need cleanup," Bulkhead warned when the time was ticking out fast.

"Trying to focus here, Bulk," Wheeljack ignored him.

"Where's Optimus and Aria?" Bulkhead asked, noticing the absence of the two.

"Huh. It's like I told you. When the scrap hits the fan blades, the generals are the first to bail," Wheeljack scoffed. "And that half fleshing, she acted tough, when I know that she's just a crybaby."

"No, not Optimus! And Aria isn't a little girl who will run away from a fight," Bulkhead objected.

* * *

"I assure you, master. In but a few moments, Optimus and three others will be blown to atoms," Dreadwing said.

"_I will allow it, Dreadwing, in memory of your departed twin. But only this once." _with that, the connection cut off.

Dreadwing turned to the scene again, to find Optimus and Aria were missing. "Where is the Prime and his little girl?" Dreadwing asked himself.

"DREADWING!" there he was, the regal voice of the Prime boomed over the place. "I know that if you're anything like you're brother, you value loyalty and honor!"

"Is there a point to your bluster, Prime?" Dreadwing asked.

"Yeah, we highly doubt that Megatron has such quality, or even if he knows about it," Aria added.

"He lives solely for destruction and conquest! But there is another path! Deactivate the bomb!" Optimus demanded.

Dreadwing finally pinpointed the source of the voice, and immediately shot to the place. But much to his surprise, whoever there before was already gone.

* * *

"Get out of here already!" Bulkhead begged, he knew that the time was almost up.

"I didn't leave you on Sandican and I'm not leaving you here!" Wheeljack said with firm tone.

"Face it, there's only one bot that can defuse this mess and his name's Dreadwing!" Bulkhead stated.

"Blaster fire's getting closer," Wheeljack commented as he heard explosions from behind. "As if the commander and the girl…"

He didn't have time to finish as Bulkhead freed his one hand and punched Wheeljack in the jaw. He then proceeded to rip off his another restrain.

"Sorry, Jackie. It's 'cause I love ya," Bulkhead said to Wheeljack before running away.

* * *

Optimus and Aria were still playing hide and seek with Dreadwing, with addition of blasts everywhere. Both father and daughter were in separate direction, and Dreadwing was having hard time on deciding whom he would hunt first.

"Over here!" Aria jumped on top of high container and delivered her white shots. Two of those scored a direct hit.

"UAGH!" Dreadwing winced in pain as his body received the deadly white blasts. There were two cracks on his armor instantly. He looked at the sea-green femme in tense, Megatron was right about that White girl being dangerous. Then, Optimus shot him again from behind. Dreadwing decided he would go for the father first.

"Let's see if you pay attention to your feet," Aria transformed back to human, and much to her delight, Dreadwing paid little attention to his below. She snuck to Dreadwing's feet, and shot a couple of blasts to his jaw.

"YOU LITTLE BRAT!" enraged, Dreadwing pointed his cannon to the ground.

"WHOA!" Aria yelped as she raced off, while deflecting all of the blasts with force field.

* * *

Bulkhead was desperate to find where he could blow off safely. Then, he decided that jumping into the water would be best idea. He ran to the end of the bay.

"Sorry, fishies!" Bulkhead whispered.

Just then, Wheeljack landed in front of his buddy. "Bulkhead, wait!"

"Out of my way!" Bulkhead slammed to Wheeljack, attempting to shove him away. But Wheeljack blocked him, and as the result, he was pushed to the edge of the bay.

"Will you listen to me, Bulk?! You were right! Dreadwing's the only one who can diffuse it! And Optimus and the girl know it too!" Wheeljack told him.

Meanwhile Dreadwing still pursued over the two fleeing Autobots. Unbeknownst to him Optimus already climbed on top of a crane.

"Hey, blue one!" Aria shouted over, she was acting as bait. "Looking for me?"

Dreadwing shot a couple of blasts, but he was shocked as his blasts were deflected away by force field.

"Not strong enough," the sea-green femme held up her barrier proudly. "You need to bring out the real deal, Dreadwing."

"As you wish," Dreadwing took the challenge and stepped forward. That was when, Optimus finally dropped the crane down, and pinned the blue jet under it. Wheeljack and Bulkhead eventually joined the two.

"Dreadwing, diffuse the bomb or fall victim to your own device," Optimus threatened.

"I will gladly sacrifice myself to avenge my brother," Dreadwing was a tough one.

"Then we will, in turn, gladly join the AllSpark with our brother," Optimus decreed.

"And with you," Wheeljack piped in.

"You think you can shake us with that cheap threat?!" Aria added.

Dreadwing was ready to die at anytime, but under that circumstance, he wasn't yet. "Very well..."

Wheeljack and Optimus then removed the crane. Dreadwing stood up, and finally pulled the blue cable on his bomb to deactivate it.

"I had it narrowed down to the blue or the yellow…or the red," Wheeljack shrugged.

But Dreadwing had plan on his own, he already set up numerous bombs on the port, and immediately blew them up. The entire port was shaking with blast and fireballs. Dreadwing took the chance to escape into the sky.

"So…who do we call for cleanup?" Wheeljack asked as he saw the damage behind them.

"The thing I know, this one ended up in fireworks as well..." Aria face-palmed herself.

"This time, it's Dreadwing, not me!" the white Wrecker defended himself.

"I know, I know," the sea-green femme walked forward, deployed her syringe, and injected her white energon to Wheeljack. "You were quite damaged."

"Wow...!" it was the first time for Wheeljack to taste the white energon. He was amazed as all the scrapes on his body disappeared in instant. "What...is that...?"

"White energon," Aria held up her syringe. "Bulk, your turn."

"It's a multi-purpose medication, see?" Bulkhead explained as he too, was healed by the girl.

"Wow, if you have this kind of useful thing, why didn't you use it to me in first place?" Wheeljack observed his already healed body.

"I'm not going to let anybody takes things for granted. But this time, you deserved it," Aria shrugged as she folded back the syringe.

* * *

"Optimus Prime still lives. As do you, Dreadwing. And that is a victory however small," Megatron stated to his subordinate "As Skyquake so tragically discovered…"

"Speak to me not of my twin, Lord Megatron," Dreadwing pleaded his master, "For I am here on Earth to obey your will and yours alone."

* * *

Back in Autobot base...

"Look, Commander. I just wanna say that it was an honor watching you work. I…think that maybe I had the wrong idea about you," said Wheeljack to Optimus. "And...about you...Aria..." he turned to the girl who stood beside the Prime.

"Wow, not gonna call me 'half fleshing' again?" the said girl smirked.

"You're giving me hard time..." Wheeljack visibly blushed, as he rubbed his head.

"And it seems that you place a greater value in community then you otherwise let on," Optimus smiled as he offered his hand to shake.

"Whoa! Let's not jump the gun here!" Wheeljack exclaimed as he backed away.

"Come on, Jackie. If you leave, you'll probably just wind up coming back again!" Bulkhead cut in and slapped his old friend in the back.

"All that wasted fuel. And energon is in short supply," Arcee added.

"Then again, we do have limited space," Ratchet grumbled as he turned away.

"Not sure if I'm ready to give up my freedom just yet. Maybe I can do some exploring. See if this rock suits me," Wheeljack shrugged.

"No offence to the Jackhammer. But you need an Earth-based vehicle mode," Bulkhead told Wheeljack.

Not soon afterward, Wheeljack was outside the base. He transformed to his new and raced off.

* * *

"Now Dreadwing, it is my honor to meet with such loyal soldier as you," Megatron said. "I know this is your first time here, but I was wondering if you can take care of one thing for me."

"Anything you wish, master," Dreadwing answered dutifully.

"Soundwave," Megatron instructed, and the silent bot brought up a scanned image. "You see, we are in race against the Autobots to retrieve Iacon relics that were jettisoned to the space eons ago, and ended up on this planet. In the beginning, we possessed five coordinates. But now, there is only one relic remains for us to grab it. Now, I want you to retrieve this object for me."

"My honor to serve you, Lord Megatron," Dreadwing bowed down.

"Since this is your first time of job, I will pair you up with someone who has better experience on this planet," Megatron added. "He is also a recent newcomer, you would do well to know him better."

* * *

Please review :3


	12. Light For The Lost Boy

"_The world is dangerous place to live, not because of the people who are evil, but because of the people who don't do anything about it"_

_Albert Einstein_

* * *

"Wonder if he will come back...?" asked Miko.

"Don't worry, Jackie will come back if the time comes, like always," Bulkhead reassured his charge.

"Why didn't he stay until we could meet him? It's been a while since we last saw him," Raf asked.

"Turns out, that Wheeljack cannot sit in one place for too long. Really, why am I not surprised?" Arcee commented as she put her hands on her hips.

"Because one more Wrecker here isn't like that at all..." Aria added, then soon they all burst into laughters.

Optimus just watched the scene from far. He smiled a bit when he saw his daughter's laughing face. Nothing in the universe could comfort his spark other than Aria's smiling face. And he would do just everything to keep that face.

"Another energon signal detected," Ratchet announced when his monitor also beeped.

"Then we would better investigate it," Optimus said. "Arcee, Aria, you are in scouting mission for today."

"Yes sir!" Aria saluted eagerly.

"Let's go, girl," Arcee said.

* * *

Meanwhile, on a cliff beach somewhere, Dreadwing and Helios were airborne in search of the Iacon coordinate, the last in Decepticon's deposit. As they were sweeping through the area, they landed on a big rock.

"The spike is rather weak, probably the interference caused by the minerals..." Dreadwing muttered as he studied his scanner.

Helios didn't reply whatsoever, he just stood few feet at Dreadwing's right, not paying attention to the Seeker. Dreadwing just frowned to the boy's attitude. Megatron paired them up in hope that the two newcomers could get along better. But, it seemed like the Decepticon leader didn't take Helios' quietness and ignorance as account. Whatever, Decepticons usually didn't need to talk that much, in or out mission.

"You are one of those whom they said fiercely loyal to Megatron, right?" but much to Dreadwing's surprise, Helios started talking.

"I am rather glad you know it," Dreadwing noted.

"What makes you being that loyal to him anyway...?" the vermillion young mech asked again.

"For one reason, Lord Megatron is the rightful leader of all Cybertronian. He would be the one who lead us to the bright future, a world where all Cybertronian would be treated as equal. He's the legendary revolution," the blue Con said with proud tone.

Helios just scoffed. Since he wasn't Cybertronian in origin, all those revolution and bright future of Cybertron meant nothing for him.

"Well, I could guess that you understand nothing of it, you are not pure Cybertronian. I heard a story about you as well, you are half Decepticon being found in abandoned human research facility," Dreadwing noted.

"Quite right," Helios replied shortly.

"Lord Megatron saved you and gave you a place to stay. You are indebted to our master forever. I guess it is only fair for you to place loyalty, as the form of your gratitude," the blue Seeker said again.

"Indebted, maybe. But gratitude is the last thing," Helios said.

* * *

Unbeknownst to them, Arcee and Aria were also scouting on the cliff sea, few miles from the Decepticons' location.

"Phew, it has been a while since the last time I saw a sea!" Aria cheered happily.

"Yeah, favorite place for me among all..." Arcee also gazed at the wild sea. "For my record, this is the only planet which has this kind of thing. Very beautiful, and amazing."

"Told you," Aria smiled. "And, it has been a while since we spent time together, Miss Arcee."

"You're quite right. But for now, I can hardly say this is the right time for ladies time," the blue femme scanned the area using her scanner. "We're here for work."

"Yeah, but just a scouting, not Decepticon or Iacon hunting," Aria said as she followed Arcee's trail. "Since we're at sea now, why don't we take time for quick swim?"

"Girl, that's corruption of time, and Optimus won't be happy," the older femme warned.

"Come on, if we finish this real quick, we can have spare time, right?" Aria giggled.

Arcee just smiled at her student's antic. "Careful, from here the rocks are unstable. For human, no problem. But for our big body, it's a risk. One wrong move, all crumbling down..." Arcee warned as they entered the unstable area.

"And...splash!" Aria referred to the harsh wave of sea just 500 feet below the cliff. "I'm very glad that Bulkhead wasn't the one to be here..."

They mashed through the steep and unstable rocks, until something caught Arcee's attention. "Aria, come here," she crouched down to a pile of rocks just on the edge of the cliff beach.

"What is it, Miss Arcee?" Aria also crouched down.

"I think I saw something shiny below here..." Arcee proceeded to dig all the rocks. She clawed all the rocks and dirts, until something shaped like a cannon blaster, red in color, appeared. "What is this...?" the blue femme was about to reach the red blaster.

Aria studied the item, and she widened her eyes. "Miss Arcee, wait!" she grabbed her mentor's hand. "I saw this in Hall of Records. It's Cosmic Cannon."

"What is that?" Arcee questioned.

"Another deadly weapon aside of spark extractor. It carries a blast which delivered disease, known as Cosmic Rust," Aria told what Arianna's memory told her. "If you're hit just by a single shot, the Cosmic Rust will spread like crazy, and eventually you will die slowly and painfully."

Arcee gasped in horror, and immediately she pulled her hand back.

"Let me do it, thankfully I'm immune to it," Aria reached out the Cosmic Cannon, and pulled it free from the rocks. "Rest assure, you won't get infected as long as you stay away from the blasts."

"Wait, does it mean, this is another Decepticon doomsday weapon?" Arcee asked again.

"Positive, no doubt about it," Aria put the blaster back to the ground, since it was big and heavy for her small hands. "Finding an Iacon relic in middle of scouting missions, lady luck may be in our side today."

"Or not..." Arcee growled as she heard familiar jet engine from behind.

"Yeah, I forgot that they are where Iacon relics are..." Aria murmured in annoyance, as the Decepticon arrived, in form of Dreadwing.

"Autobots..." Dreadwing landed on the side of the cliff. "I would suggest you to turn over the Iacon relic, which rightfully belongs to Lord Megatron. Then, I will spare your lives."

"Oh, what makes you think so? Early birds get the worms, we got it first," Arcee stood position for fight. There was no way they could let such dangerous weapon fell into Decepticon hands.

"Then, I have no choice but to take it by force," Dreadwing pulled out his cannon and immediately shots rounds to both femmes.

Arcee and Aria leapt to sides to dodge it. Arcee deployed her blasters and fired back to the Decepticon. "Aria! Secure the weapon! I'll handle Dreadwing!" she shot the rocks below Dreadwing's feet, causing it to crumble down. The blue jet fell to lower cliff platform, with Arcee in hot pursuit.

"Miss Arcee...!" Aria called out. She wanted to help, just then she spotted Helios came, hovering in mid air with his jetpack. "...I didn't expect you to be here, Helios."

"So did I, but I think you're aware for what we're here," Helios deployed his cannons, ready for a fight.

"I know," Aria put the Cosmic Cannon leaning to the rocks. At time like that, she was supposed to call for back up. But, the sea-green femme already made up her mind, that Helios was hers. "And you have to know that I won't let you get your hands on this."

"I know that, which is why..." Helios started, as he landed on the cliff as well.

"I challenge you," the half Autobot cut in, as she pointed her finger to the boy. "Let's have a showdown. The winner will get the Cosmic Cannon as the prize."

Helios was rather surprised, that the girl challenged him for a fight.

"Well, how do you say? You're up?" Aria asked as she unfolded her right blade. She knew that Optimus and the others wouldn't be happy with her current action. But, it was a worth to try, and she was willing to take a risk.

"...Very well," Helios decided to accept. He folded his cannon, and brought out his blade as well. He had never accepted that kind of call, and that made the boy rather excited.

Second later, both of half Cybertronian charged forward and locked their blades to each other. A hot sword fight ensued soon afterwards. Aria was rather used to Helios' speedy movement, and so she was able to counter it. The blade fight was mixed together with hand-to-hand combat as well. That was their very first official showdown.

* * *

On the lower platform, Arcee and Dreadwing were having their own brawl as well. Being smaller femme, Arcee was having disadvantages. However, she wasn't a femme anyone could underestimate. Even Dreadwing was having hard time dealing with the blue femme.

Arcee knew she had to get rid of the Con soon. So, she jumped back, and trampled on Dreadwing with her both legs. Eventually, Dreadwing was kicked and he fell to the sea below. Arcee quickly climbed back to the top of the cliff, and spotted Aria and Helios engaging in serious fight. The blue bike thought about providing back up for her junior, so she aimed her blaster.

"Miss Arcee, don't!" Aria saw what Arcee was about to do, and stopped her.

Arcee widened her eyes in shock. But, the older femme understood it immediately, Aria wouldn't let anyone interfering the fight between her and her rival. Arcee decided to lower her weapon, and giving the two a space. Arcee took the chance to observe Helios. Arcee admitted it, that boy was something, by the way he fought.

"You know Helios, you're a good boy, I know it," Aria tried to reason in middle of their brawl. "You're not supposed to be with the Decepticons...!"

"Are we going to fight, or chat over some nonsense things?" Helios cut in, as he swung his blade to Aria's face.

"It's not nonsense!" Aria ducked the attack.

Arcee still observed from far away, then she decided to secure the weapon first. But she heard a rumble of jet, and as she turned around, Dreadwing was back from the cold sea. "Scrap...!" she didn't have time to react, and Dreadwing slammed her to the upper cliff wall forcefully.

"Helios, what are you doing?!" Dreadwing yelled out. "Leave the Autobot, Lord Megatron wants us to retrieve the weapon!"

"Don't interfere!" Helios warned with loud voice to the mech who was far older than him.

"What you..." Dreadwing was rather annoyed being shouted like that. But then, Arcee pounced him from behind.

"You hear that, Dreadwing," Arcee too, didn't want anyone to interrupt her junior. "Leave the kids with themselves, adult with adult."

"Listen, Helios, you can choose another path!" Aria tried to use the chance to reason with the boy.

"No choice for me!" Helios yelled as he bashed his punch to Aria's blade, shattering it. "There's no other place for me to go! Except that warship and army!"

"That's not true...!" Aria unfolded her broken blade, and decided to go with her firsts.

"Aren't you the same as me? We're both half Cybertronian. Just like you, I'm staying with the ones with the same origin as my robotic part, the Decepticons," Helios touched his chassis. "That's the only option I have..."

"No..." Aria murmured, and she clenched her fist tighter. "That's not true, Helios...!" but before she could finish her sentence, a powerful cannon blast sent her flying from her side. She rolled down to the ground as the result, and her waist part was leaking.

It from was Dreadwing, after managing to knock Arcee down, he turned his attention to the two. Arcee was embedded in the upper cliff wall, unconscious.

"Helios, ignoring the order from our master is a crime," Dreadwing walked closer, and grabbed the Cosmic Cannon. "We got the weapon, let's retreat for now."

"But..." Helios was rather unhappy that his fight was interrupted.

"Do you wish to face Lord Megatron's wrath?" Dreadwing cut short the argument.

"Wait...!" Aria stood up, despite that her waist was injured, she wasn't going to back down. She deployed her blaster and shot couple rounds to Dreadwing and Helios.

Helios just deflected back the shots with his force field. "Sorry, it looks like we have to postpone our fight..." he stated to the girl.

Arcee regained consciousness just when Dreadwing and Helios took off the ground. She saw the Cosmic Cannon was held by Dreadwing, and much to her horror, Aria was on her knees, injured gravely. "Aria...! Scrap...!" the blue bike freed herself from the cliff, and rushed to her student.

Strangely, Dreadwing transformed and landed on another big rock in middle of the sea, not far from the cliff beach.

"What are you doing?" Helios asked, confused.

"Making sure we don't leave any trace behind," the blue jet pulled out his remote control, and pushed a button.

On the cliff platform, Aria gasped as she heard familiar beeping sounds. Much to her shocks, the ground around her was planted by multiple proximity bombs. Obviously, Dreadwing had planted all of those before. And the beeping meant the bombs were about to go off. She turned around and shocked to see Arcee running to her direction.

"MISS ARCEE DON'T COME HERE!" the sea-green femme screamed out. Then immediately, she formed a force field around her body.

"What the...?" Arcee was confused, but she immediately knew what it meant, as the bombs exploded.

_BOOOOMMM_

Arcee was thrown pretty far by the powerful shockwave. She quickly gathered herself, as she realized just what happened. "Scrap...! ARIA!" the blue femme cried out in horror, Aria was in middle of the explosions. Her horror wasn't over yet, the cliff crumbled down as the result of the explosions, and the cracks spread to below her feet. Having no choice, Arcee was forced to retreat to escape the crumbling cliff.

Helios and Dreadwing saw the cliff collapsing from far away. The big cliff crumbled into rubbles and fell to the sea. Dreadwing was having a satisfied smirk, but Helios had horror on his eyes. The vermillion boy knew that the girl he fought before, was still there.

"Now, let's go. Lord Megatron is waiting," Dreadwing then transformed to jet and soared off.

Helios was hesitant to follow the blue jet. For some reason, he felt like he couldn't leave yet. "Why is this...?" the vermillion boy shook his head, there was no way he would sympathy with the enemy. But, something held him from leaving that place. He felt like he had to do something. After made up his mind, he rocketed off, but not in Dreadwing's direction.

* * *

Aria was barely conscious as she was pinned under the massive cliff under the sea. Even with the force field, she still received damage from the bomb blasts. Being a half Autobot, she wasn't in verge of drowning. But, she couldn't free herself from the rocks.

"This is not quick swim, but a quick dive..." she made a remark. She heard something from above. As she looked up, she had horror. The rocks above her head was about to crumble down again. "No...!" she struggled even harder, before those rocks buried her for good. But it was in vain.

Just as her vision got blurry, she saw someone swimming to her. She felt like being pulled by something, but she couldn't tell what, as she finally blackened out.

* * *

Aria recovered from the blast, and immediately raced back to the place. But much to her horror, the big cliff was disappearing, together with Aria. "No..." she crouched and looked below the sea. The cliff obviously all splashed to the water, together with the sea-green girl. "ARIA!" she screamed out. The blue bike decided to take a dive. She had to find the girl, no matter what the cost.

But before Arcee could jump, something emerged from the water. It was Helios, with the unconscious Aria on his arms. Arcee was alerted immediately, she deployed her blaster and aimed it to the boy. "Put her down, now!" she ordered.

Helios didn't reply, he just landed on the cliff, and placed Aria on the ground. The boy immediately stepped back.

As soon as Helios stepped back, Arcee rushed to protect her student. "What you have done to her?!" she demanded.

"Not me, it was him," Helios merely answered, before rocketed off to the sky.

Arcee couldn't believe what she saw, the half Decepticon saved his enemy. "Aria, can you hear me?" Arcee checked over Aria. She was unconscious, but still alive. "Ratchet, GroundBridge now!"

* * *

Aria regained consciousness inside the base, with the worried Optimus on her side.

"Good, she's waking up," Ratchet observed.

"Ratch...what the...?" Aria whispered weakly, and she tried to sit up.

"Ah, ah, not yet," the medic held her. "You suffered critical damage from the blast all entire your body. The seawater seeped to your internal circuits through your injuries. It will be a multiple complication if you're not careful."

"Ratchet, is she going to be...?" Optimus asked worriedly.

"It will be fine, Optimus. The damage is critical, but not a problem for me to fix. She will be back in shape in no time," Ratchet reassured.

Aria recollected everything that happened prior. "The Cosmic Cannon...!" she gasped out.

"Dreadwing took it with him," Arcee informed her, and she sighed heavily.

"Now, they have a deadly weapon that can make us rust in seconds...whew..." Bulkhead shivered in fear. "Why the Decepticons always have the good scrap?"

"I'm sorry, it's all my fault..." Aria whispered in guilt.

"Aria, there is no need to regret the past mistake," Optimus stroked his daughter's face. "From what I heard from Arcee, you fought bravely."

"Even so, it was rather stupid for me to pull that kind of stunt..." she was reminded of something. "Oh yeah...Miss Arcee, you pulled me out of the water?"

"Not me, it was that boy," Arcee replied.

"Helios...?" Aria widened her eyes in disbelief.

"Are you sure? That Decepticon boy?" Bulkhead was skeptical.

"Positive Bulk, he did it in front of my eyes. I could hardly believe that either," Arcee shrugged.

"Helios saved me...?" Aria pondered aloud, but there was a relief inside her. Did she manage to shed a little light on that boy?

* * *

"A Cosmic Cannon, truly a masterpiece..." Megatron observed his new weapon in awe. "Capable of delivering a mass destruction in single shot. Dreadwing and Helios, I have to say, this is an excellent job."

"I live to serve, Lord Megatron," Dreadwing bowed dutifully. He was rather proud to complete a task entrusted by his master.

"Thank you, Lord Megatron," Helios merely answered, his tone was dry.

"You two are proved to be the most important parts in my cause," Megatron added.

Helios didn't answer, as he just walked out of the command center. There, he met up with Knock Out.

"Ouch, what's this smell. Hey Helios, why are you wet?" Knock Out asked to the soaked vermillion boy.

"Nothing..." Helios just walked pass the medic. He still couldn't believe what he had done before, saving his archenemy. He still wasn't sure what drove him to do that. The part of him just couldn't let that girl perished. One thing that he was aware, that girl was different. She was the only one who made an attempt to reach him. And in Helios' entire life, never he met someone who truly care about his true feeling, after Cassandra.

And in the truth, he decided to join Decepticon cause, not because he felt indebted to Megatron. That was why, he wasn't all happy and being honored just like Dreadwing or any other Decepticons. If only he had other choices, he wouldn't be in the warship.

_The most important parts in my cause._

It confirmed the thing that he always believed all this time. "I have no other place to go..." he simply murmured.

_A hand had been stretched to reach you_

_Why you make it difficult by not accepting it? _

"Shut up...!" Helios growled to the female voice inside his head.

* * *

I made that Cosmic Cannon based on TF Movie 3. Please review :3


	13. Little Explosions

_"The bond that links your true family is not one of blood, but of respect and joy in each other's life"_

_Richard Bach_

* * *

"Hmm..." Ratchet performed scan on Aria's Autobot body. "Okay, I have nothing else to say, besides all of your internal circuits already recovered."

"Thanks, Ratch," Aria then stepped out from the blue glass chamber, but then she sighed heavily.

"What's wrong?" Ratchet asked.

"Well, to think that I lost my grasp on Helios again. And, I still didn't know if my choice to challenge him was the wise one," Aria mumbled. "Because of it, we lost the Cosmic Cannon."

"Not everybody can make the right choice at the right time," Ratchet noted.

"My father can," Aria argued.

"Why you have to compare yourself to your father who already lived much longer than you? He already experienced so many things that shaped him to what we know as the majestic Optimus Prime of today," the medic stated. "You're still fairly young, and that being said, you still have long way to go. But I have to say, the courage for taking such risk, not all younglings have such quality."

"Wow, is that compliment?" Aria smiled.

"Just an advise, for you not to take unnecessary risk next time," Ratchet said as he walked to the main monitor, to resume his monitor duty.

Aria walked to the platform area. Miko and Jack were engaged in video game with their guardians watching. Raf was on the lower floor, playing his remote control car with Bumblebee watching.

"Hi Raf," Aria greeted. "New car again?"

"The old one, I just finished customizing it," the glasses boy said as he maneuvered his yellow car into sharp turn.

"My father isn't coming back yet?" Aria glanced to the yellow scout, who gave her a head shake.

"Hmm, a vehicular form is approaching," Ratchet noted, and identified the said vehicle.

"Oho, it's Jackie!" Bulkhead noticed the monitor and recognized immediately the white car. "He's coming for a visit!"

"Really?! Awesome!" Miko immediately stopped her game.

"You bet it's not because he's bringing some trouble?" Arcee asked.

"Who do you think he is? He might be hot headed, but he knows exactly how to act like a gentlemech. Ah, speaking of it..." the green bot heard the horn approaching, and eagerly stood before the entrance hall.

"Coming through!" Wheeljack rolled inside, and transformed as he approached the command center. A large suitcase was hanging from his left hand.

_CRASH_

"Huh...?" the white Wrecker flinched as he felt something under his foot.

"MY CAR!" Raf cried out in horror, and he dropped his remote control in shock.

"Whoopsy..." Wheeljack slowly lifted his foot, and revealing a crushed yellow car beneath. He noticed as the glasses boy dashed forward and scooped the scrapped remote control car. It was beyond saving. "Sorry, kid..."

_Watch where you walk, barbarian! _Bumblebee bleeped angrily and he confronted Wheeljack directly. The yellow bot wasn't going to let anything happen to Raf, neither his body or mind.

"Sorry, it's an accident..." Wheeljack held his hands up in surrender.

"It seems like Wheeljack needs proper training on how to walk properly inside our base," Aria folded her arms, and she peered to Arcee who was standing just beside her.

"Not my business," Arcee waved off.

"Ah but, this is the perfect time. I have something that might be the perfect replacement for your car, kiddo," Wheeljack revealed a big suitcase he had been carrying.

"Wow, what is that Jackie? New weapon?" Bulkhead asked as he approached his old friend.

"It will be boring if I just tinker over weapon at all the time. So, this time I create something rather new, my latest masterpiece," the white bot opened the suitcase. "Behold, my remote control miniature Jackhammer!" Inside the suitcase was a smaller version of Jackhammer, and a remote control.

"Wow! Mini-Jackhammer!" Bulkhead exclaimed in excitement.

"Mini? Medium is the right word, I think," Jack noted. The miniature Jackhammer was still bit too large for the humans, it was at size of their couch.

"You're a technician or some kind, Wheeljack?" Miko asked.

"Not really, but Jackie's technical skills are almost matched with his Wrecker style! Totally wicked!" Bulkhead stated to his charge.

"Actually, this is just my hobby, creating something, y'know. Now, who wants to test it? You?" Wheeljack took both of the things and gave the remote to Bumblebee.

_I wanna try! _Bumblebee was very excited, and he took the remote eagerly. He pressed the button to start it. Much to everyone's surprise, the mini Jackhammer floated from Wheeljack's hand to the mid-air.

"Wow!" Raf exclaimed in surprise. "Amazing!"

Bumblebee was rather delighted, and he maneuvered the toy ship all around the base. Then he made it fly to Ratchet's direction.

"OUCH!" Ratchet cried as the mini ship crashed to his head. "Do not play that kind of thing inside the base!" he yelled out angrily. But that just earned a laughter from everyone.

"Okay, but it's just an ordinary toy," Arcee remarked. "Although, it's kinda surprising that a Wrecker will build something that not related to weaponry."

"Of course, everything related to Wrecker is weapon," Wheeljack replied. "Check out the red button, kid!"

Bumblebee frowned, but did what the white bot said. As he pressed the red button, the mini ship unfolded his blasters and shot a tiny blast across the room. The blasters were placed exactly like the cannons on real Jackhammer.

"You equipped that thing with blasters?" Aria questioned.

"If it's just a toy, will be boring, right?" Wheeljack shrugged. "I'm planning to build some kind of remote control shooters, if this mini-Jackhammer passes the test."

"What do you mean by 'test'?" Jack asked.

"Actually, this is the first time that mini-Jackhammer being used, y'know," the white Wrecker merely answered.

Just then, a loud pop and smoke emerged from the floating toy. All of the sudden, the Jackhammer went out of control, spinning around and shooting at the same time. Within seconds, it showered the entire base with blasts. The blasts were mini, but they were way, way too many.

"WHOA!" all of the people there jumped and rolled aside to dodge them. Aria dove forward, and shield all three kids with her force field.

_I can't control it! _Bumblebee was trying to gain control of the toy, but the remote itself also started smoking and failing.

"BY THE ALLSPARK!" Ratchet gasped in horror as all his monitors were blasted by mini Jackhammer. But the medic also was forced to shield from the shower. "WHAT ON THE PIT IS GOING ON HERE?!"

"Wheeljack, how we stop that thing?!" Aria called out.

"Er...with the remote, but...that remote is scrapped too, I guess...?" Wheeljack answered sheepishly.

"That's it!" Arcee was rather enraged, she deployed her blaster and tried to shoot down the mini ship. However, the mini ship just flew around uncontrollably and managed to escape Arcee's blast. "Feeling tough aren't you...?" being fired up, Arcee began to pursue the ship and firing all around the base as well.

"Arcee, contain your blasts!" Ratchet cried out a warning, since Arcee's blasts were making things even worse.

Eventually, one blast managed to hit the mini Jack. The toy flew toward hallway by leaving black smoke trail, and blew up somewhere in the corridor. The explosion was rather loud and shaking.

"You guys alright?" Aria asked to her three friends, as she dismissed her force field.

"Yeah, thanks to you..." Jack replied.

"That mini-Jackhammer is really wicked as rock star!" Miko exclaimed.

"Miko, it ruined the base, what's wicked about that?!" Raf cut in angrily.

It was true, when they examined their surrounding, the command center was in total mess. There were holes and cracks everywhere. The stairs to the platform were breaking. And the couch area was in ruin, the television and couch were busted up and smoking.

"WHEELJACK! I NEEDED THAT, THAT AND THAT!" Ratchet screamed angrily in front of Wheeljack, while pointing to all of his damaged tools and computers.

"Boss bot's not gonna be happy when he comes back..." Bulkhead took a note.

"But we know who's to blame for that," Arcee folded her arms, referring to Wheeljack and his creation.

"Regardless, why did it blow up?" Jack asked the crucial question.

"Jackie, you planted a grenade inside that thing as well?" Bulkhead asked.

"Yeah, a mini one," Wheeljack's answer made everyone face palmed themselves. A toy plane armed with blasters and grenade was a doomsday toy, and absolutely not for kids.

"One more question, where did it blow up?" Aria asked next.

* * *

They got the answer for Aria's question as they examined the hallway. Turned out, the mini ship blew up, in front of Optimus' quarter. The door was busted open, and the explosion managed to mess the interior as well. The metal berth was on its side, and the private wash rack was in mess. The mini Jack was in pieces.

"FATHER'S QUARTER!?" Aria screamed out in horror. Enraged, she transformed to Autobot so she could confront Wheeljack. "Now look what you've done to this! That berth was just cleaned up two days ago, and we just finished rearranging that wash rack!"

"Sorry, kid...I told you it's an accident..." Wheeljack replied.

"I'll make it accident if you will...!" Aria hissed.

"Aria, as much as I support your decision, it'll be better if we start cleaning up before Optimus comes home," Arcee advised, and everyone nodded in agreement for it. "And after that, you and your father can do whatever you want to our hot buster."

So, they started the cleanup. Ratchet and Wheeljack were patching the holes and cracks, the other Autobots were rearranging things back to the place, while the kids and Aria tended to their ruined couch area.

"Too bad, when I really want to watch tomorrow's monster truck rally with Bulkhead..." Miko moaned to their busted TV.

"Looks like we have to replace everything..." Aria noted to the busted couch. She leapt off the platform. "Ratch, I'll make up father's room, okay?"

"Go ahead," Ratchet replied.

* * *

"What a mess..." Aria shook her head in defeat, she was already in Optimus' quarter. "We have to replace the door, it seems..." she transformed to Autobot mode, and started to roll back the big metal berth. She dragged it to the supposed place, and it was rather heavy duty for the little femme.

"Want some help for heavy lifting?" Wheeljack was there. "Leave it to adult, will you?"

"Well, I can use some help," Aria replied.

It was decided that Wheeljack would rearrange all the big things there, when Aria rearranged the private wash rack, which was the lighter job.

"Listen, I'm sorry for busting your dad's room," Wheeljack said as he rearranged the metal desk.

"If you want to say sorry, say it to my father later," the sea-green femme said as she put back all washing things back on rack. "Though, I bet he will treat this as no big deal. He's always like that, you know. He is a strict one, but actually a big softie. Okay, time for some cleaning."

Both of the Autobots started to clean the room from dust and debris.

"Hey..." Wheeljack broke the silence. "Even though I don't stay together with you guys, I think there's no harm for you to spill out."

"Huh?" Aria frowned, she stopped sweeping the floor for a while.

"Well, there are so many things I don't know yet about you. Usually I just don't give any scrap to somebody else's background story. But you...you are...weird, in good ways, you know," the white Wrecker explained.

"Bulkhead never told you about me?" Aria got the hint eventually.

"He just told me that you are reincarnation of Holy Saint or whatever. But, he never told me on how a half human half Autobot could exist. Or, how Optimus could have a daughter? I mean, I never heard that Prime had a daughter," Wheeljack explained further. "Bulk just told me to ask directly from you."

"Oh, well..." Aria scratched her head. She decided that Wheeljack deserved to know, since he was one of the Autobots after all. But she didn't know how to start. "First...it wasn't that weird if you didn't know your Commander had a daughter. He kept it secret, so his daughter wouldn't be targeted by enemies. Although, the daughter we're talking about here isn't me. It was my father's first daughter and my late sister, Arianna."

"Late sister?"

"She passed away, Megatron kidnapped her and used her as hostage. Then Megatron took her as he moved to the Earth," Aria explained further.

"That Megatron killed her?"

"No...although Megatron was to be blamed at first place, but he didn't kill Arianna..." Aria took a deep breath, that was going to be a complicated story.

* * *

"Where's Jackie?" Bulkhead asked in middle of the labor.

"I told him to help Aria out with cleaning Optimus' quarter. That girl is going to need help," Ratchet merely answered as he patched up the broken stairs.

"What?" Arcee was surprised. "You mean, you told him to go there?"

"Yeah, why?" Ratchet inquired.

"You told him to go inside somewhere, with a little girl, just two of them?" Arcee got suspicious.

Bulkhead heard that, and he got the hint. "Relax Cee, I told you that Jackie isn't that kind of bot!"

"Even after he scrapped our base?" Arcee snapped.

"Well, I have to agree with Arcee. But, we should not be worried about Aria," Ratchet argued. "That girl is strong, if there's something, she can just fight back or scream for help. She's your student, after all."

* * *

"So, that was it..." Aria ended up the story of her past life. Pretty painful for her to relive the tragic past. "Just a while after that, he took me as his daughter."

"Oh..." Wheeljack continued to rubbed the surface of the berth, while listening to the story. He was rather impressed by that little girl. "Ow, I just polished my body this morning...!" he yelped as he noticed that his body was dusty all over.

"Just use that wash rack," Aria said.

"You sure?" Wheeljack questioned. "This is Prime's private wash rack, ain't it?"

"Yeah, but like I said, he will treat it as no big deal," Aria shrugged. "Need some help?"

Wheeljack walked to the said wash rack, grabbed a rag and started to dust off his armor. "Nah, I'm used to do it by myself. Are you guys having this kind of thing inside your quarters as well?"

"No, only this one has the private wash rack. The others use the public wash rack located just in the corner of the hallway," replied the sea-green femme. "My father rarely uses his private wash rack though, and not to mention he rarely cleans himself up. It's always me who have to remind him," she chuckled out. She sat on the metal berth and watched as Wheeljack cleaned himself.

"Oh..." Wheeljack noted, as he turned on the water and soaked himself.

Aria sighed heavily. "Yeah, father is nice and all. It's pretty normal if he's a Prime, huh? But sometimes, I can't help but wondering..." she paused. "I still feel like there's distance between me and him. I am, after all, not his biological sparkling."

"Regardless, you're one of the lucky ones," Wheeljack noted. "If you look at me, or the other Wreckers, we barely remembered about our sparklinghood, or our creators. We had to live a warrior life when we were just few cycles old. You see, it was all about war. All that kind of parental love were a rare commodity." He paused for some moments. "Well, cannot say your previous story is all better. Your past is far horrible than mine."

"And Arianna's," Aria cut in. "She too, lived at times of war..."

"At least, she and you could taste how it felt like to be loved, to be cared of..." Wheeljack reflected back to his life. "It's a feeling that I'd probably never taste for the rest of my life, however."

"Really? How about Bulkhead?"

"Bulk is my best friend, and it will be forever. But, he isn't the one whom I expect to care for me. I'm a full grown mech, you see. It's kinda embarrassing to be worried over by someone, even if it's your own old buddy," Wheeljack finished washing his armor, and turned off the water. "Right now, I'm more focusing on how to fare better at the battlefield. Bulkhead isn't to be underestimated, and there are lotta strong mechs out there. It will be a shame if I can't be at higher level."

"Yeah, I know what you feel..." Aria smiled, somehow she felt she could get along better with the Wrecker.

Wheeljack wiped his body off with the towel. "Hey, is it okay if I use some of the wax gel?"

"Sure, go ahead," Aria said.

* * *

"What happened here?" Optimus finally was back, and rather shocked to find the base at such state.

"Ah Optimus...it's kinda long story..." Ratchet faced his old friend, and told everything that happened. Optimus just twitched his optics by the mention of the mini Jackhammer blasting around their base.

"That Wheeljack doomsday toy was messing up your quarter as well," Arcee told him. "You'd better do something about this."

"Just...don't go overboard, boss," Bulkhead was rather worried. "Jackie didn't mean to do this, these were all accident."

"Where is Wheeljack?" Optimus looked around.

"He's helping Aria out with making up your room," Ratchet replied.

That being said, Optimus walked to his own quarter. He planned to meet Wheeljack directly to get the story of his version.

* * *

"OUGH!" Wheeljack yelped as he accidentally splattered the context of wax gel bottle to his lower body and to the floor.

"Careful there," Aria decided to help and walked forward.

"Sorry...what a waste of good wax...WHOA!" as the Wrecker tried to move his leg, he eventually slipped on the wax. He tried not to fall, and flailing his arms around to regain balance. However, as Aria walked closer, his swinging arm accidentally punched the little girl and knocked her out cold.

"Oh, this is no good..." Wheeljack was about to check over the half Autobot, but he slipped and he fell for good. "Ouch..." he groaned, and he realized that he fell on top of Aria.

And that was when Optimus, Arcee, Ratchet, and Bulkhead walked in to the quarter. All of them widened their eyes in shock. Wheeljack was crouching on top of unconscious Aria, and his lower region was wet. Very awkward situation, and there was very awkward silence. Bulkhead had his lower jaw hanging down.

"Uh...Commander, you're back already...?" Wheeljack asked nervously.

Then all hell broke loose.

"WHEELJACK YOU PIT-SPAWNED GLITCH HEAD!" Arcee was enraged instantly. She dashed forward and kicked the Wrecker away from Aria. "What you've done to her?!"

"Ouch, easy there...!" Wheeljack groaned after being kicked, but confronted by Ratchet immediately.

"You...you already scrapped our base and our leader's private quarter...!" the medic growled angrily. "_Now you're trying to scrap Optimus' daughter, in his own quarter nonetheless_?! How many death sentences you wished for?!" Ratchet roared out in pure rage.

"Now doc, this isn't like what you think..." Wheeljack tried to defend himself.

_CLANK_

They all turned around to find Optimus already folded his battle bask, and much to their horror, his blaster was out as well. His entire body was shaking out of horror and rage.

"Wheeljack..." he growled in low tone.

Even Arcee and Ratchet snapped out of their own anger witnessing that. They were rather shocked, Optimus was always keeping his head cool at all time. Well, it looked like, he couldn't do that if it involved his precious daughter. They were rather worried as Optimus stomped his way.

"Boss, listen, I said, don't go overboard! Please..." Bulkhead tried to prevent his leader from killing his best friend. "I bet Jackie has the explanation! This must be an accident...!"

"Ouch, my head..." the voice of Aria waking up attracted their attention. "Huh, father, you're home? Since when did you guys arrive here...?" she noticed that the room was more crowded.

"Aria, are you alright?" Arcee asked worriedly.

"Yeah, just dizzy, why?" Aria replied in confusion.

"I have to ask, was he doing something...inappropriate to you?" Ratchet asked as he pointed to Wheeljack.

"Err, no...what kind of inappropriate do you mean?" the half Autobot was even more confused.

"The docbot thought that Jackie was about to...scrap you or some kind," Bulkhead stated.

"What...?" the little girl was confused, but as she noticed Optimus was having his weapon out, and the mention of 'inappropriate', she finally put two and two together. "You...didn't happen to think that Wheeljack was about to..." immediately, her face blushed really red. "WHAT ARE YOU GUYS THINKING?!"

"Well, sorry if there's mistake, but...we saw him...was on top of you..." Arcee inquired.

"It wasn't what like you thought! Do you really think I'm gonna let him?! Absolutely no!" Aria yelled out in embarrassment.

"Well..." Optimus slid his battle mask and weapon back. "For now, Ratchet, check over Aria. Wheeljack, you are going to have word with me, privately."

"Uh yes, Commander," Wheeljack hung his head low, but he knew he had to take responsibility.

* * *

Finally, all the cleaning and repairing were done, and everyone was rather exhausted. The three kids were laying down on the damaged couch, Bumblebee and Bulkhead just plopped themselves on metal box, and Arcee stretched her limbs.

Wheeljack just finished the lecture session with Optimus.

"You okay?" Aria noticed just how tired the Wrecker was.

"Whew, this is much worse than dealing with the Cons..." Wheeljack brushed his helmet, and he sighed in defeat.

"Believe me, dealing with Cons is much worse," Aria argued.

"Whatever, like I said, you are the lucky one," the Wrecker grinned.

"Huh?"

"Commander looked like he was about to scrap me before, I was scared out of my spark," Wheeljack confessed. "To think that all of you are behind his back, you don't need to worry even if the world is about to end, huh?"

"What are you talking about? You too are one of us," the ponytail argued.

"Well, let me think about that," Wheeljack grinned in embarrassment.

"By the way, the mini Jackhammer you made, it was really awesome, you know," Aria said.

"You have the nice taste, kid. But, it still needs more readjusting," Wheeljack stated.

"If you make another one, would you mind to show us again?" Aria asked.

Wheeljack widened his eyes in surprise. "Yea, sure thing." Perhaps he already grew another fondness of another Autobot besides Bulkhead.

* * *

Phew, I'm not too good with humor. Please review.


	14. Crossfire

"_One loyal friend is worth ten thousand relatives"_

_Euripides_

* * *

Nemesis was in its usual day, orbiting the Earth with the Decepticon army inside busy planning on what they should do to terminate all the Autobots. Megatron was in central command, Helios was there looking at Soundwave who was busy decoding the Iacon database. That was when, Airachnid approached the Decepticon leader.

"If it pleases you, Lord Megatron, once Soundwave discovers a mean of decoding the remainder of the Iacon Database, as we know he will, I would suggest the deployment of an underutilized asset," Airachnid suggested.

"And what asset would that be, Airachnid?" Megatron asked.

"I believe that my superior tracking skills would expedite your quest to recover the remaining relics," Airachnid said as she bowed towards Megatron.

"Noted," Megatron merely answered, completely uninterested.

"You are a gracious audience, my lord," the spider bot then stood up and left.

"Soundwave, remind me of her trustworthiness," Megatron requested Soundwave.

Soundwave then played the clip of Airachnid's voice.

"_I believe we must consider the possibility of a future…without Megatron."_

Helios merely widened his eyes in disbelief. That clip was taken from the days when Helios was still inside the capsule, so the boy really had no idea about it. He already heard about Starscream's rebellion from Airachnid too before. Finally, a question began to spark inside Helios, were Decepticons really trustworthy, as there were two traitors already? Seemed like, not all bots inside the warship could be trusted of watching your back.

* * *

Dreadwing was in his own quarter, checking over his weapons when he received a call from Megatron.

"_Dreadwing."_

"I am at your beck and call, Lord Megatron," Dreadwing vowed dutifully.

"_I wish to entrust you with a task I would normally reserve for myself. That is…if you wish to prove yourself worthy of becoming my first lieutenant._"

"That post belongs to Airachnid," Dreadwing said. He was unlike any other Decepticons who wished for a higher rank. All he wanted was to serve his true master.

"_She will be missed._"

And that was when Dreadwing realized his mission. He was to dispose the spider scavenger.

"_And I suggest you bring backup. She can be a handful, especially when cornered._"

* * *

That being said, three Decepticons consisted of Airachnid, Breakdown, and Dreadwing were dispatched for some scouting mission in the night jungle. However, for Dreadwing and Breakdown, they knew that it was more than just scouting. But they were aware that Airachnid might also know it.

"Am I the only one here who considers this to be overkill on Lord Megatron's part? I mean, dispatching two of his most proficient warriors to confirm one unconfirmed energon spike," Airachnid stated.

"Megatron knows me and Dreadwing can get the job done," Breakdown replied.

"Actually, I was referring to Dreadwing and myself," Airachnid clearly taunted the blue truck.

As expected, Breakdown was quickly being offended, and he was about to attack. Until Dreadwing stopped him.

"Breakdown, remain on task. This must be a unified effort," Dreadwing chided.

"Indeed, Breakdown. I know we've never seen eyes-to-eye. But that doesn't mean we can't patch things up," Airachnid smirked with a wink.

"THAT'S IT!" Breakdown lost his temper immediately, and charged forward.

"DON'T!" Dreadwing called out, but it was too late.

Airachnid already predicted that, so she transformed to spider, leapt back, and spitting a thread web to Breakdown's face. The battle then began. Dreadwing took out his cannon and started firing at the spider. Airachnid just leapt from tree to tree to dodge it, and tried to web the blue jet. Dreadwing dodged two of them, but the last one managed to web him at a tree. Airachnid stumbled upon a tree branch and fell to the ground hard. One of her limbs was severed as the result.

Meanwhile, the enraged Breakdown ripped the webbing free from his face, and tried to shoot Airachnid with his shoulder cannon. Airachnid leapt to dodge it, and made her escape to the deeper jungle. Breakdown gave her a chase.

"Breakdown! Don't be a fool! Release me!" Dreadwing yelled out. But Breakdown was already gone.

Breakdown was determined to rip the treacherous spider apart, if he managed to find her. He came across an energon puddle. And so, Breakdown followed the energon trail, until he finally found his prey, cornered.

"Easy prey..." Breakdown smirked. He brought out his hammer, and prepared to smash Airachnid to pieces. However, as he lifted his arm, a single string of web captured his hammer. It was a trap.

Airachnid smirked, as the table had turned. With Breakdown unable to move, the spider brought out her limbs, and...

_"AAAAAAAAAA"_

The pained scream of Breakdown echoed throughout the jungle. Dreadwing could hear it, when he still struggled to break free from the webbing. "Breakdown! What is your status?" Dreadwing asked into his commlink, earning no response. "Breakdown!"

* * *

Breakdown could answer no more, as his body was found already dismantled, by MECH.

"MECH 1 to Silas. Our maneuvers have revealed unexpected results…and a familiar face."

* * *

"How is it that I have been reduced to seeking Energon scraps merely to survive?" Starscream asked himself, as he climbed on a cliff to reach a tiny energon shard embedded in the rock. When he finally plucked the shard off, he lost his footing and rolled down back. And as he gathered himself up, he heard loud footsteps from inside the stripped energon mine. When he entered the mine, he widened his eyes.

"An Insecticon?! On Earth?!" Starscream gasped in disbelief to see a big Insecticon there, plucking out an energon crystal from the wall. "You there! Scavenger, deliver that energon to me!" the Seeker boldly approached the bug bot and ordered. But the Insecticon just ignored him. "You dare turn your back on a superior life form?! I am Commander Starscream!"

Well, superior life form yes, but superior body size not. Angered, the Insecticon began to lash at the Decepticon. Starscream tried to fight, but the bug bot was proved to be powerful. Starscream tried to avoid the attack, until he crawled back into narrow space to stay away from the Insecticon's reach.

"Fine! Keep the energon! I hope you choke on it!" Starscream spat out.

The Insecticon suddenly stopped as some kind of telepathy took control of him. He turned his attention away of Starscream, and approached the bot who called him. It was Airachnid, sitting on the rock like a queen.

"Yes, minion, approach me, obey me. Worship me," Airachnid chanted like a queen.

Like being spelled, the Insecticon bowed down before Airachnid, and gave away his energon crystal as a present.

"You shouldn't have," Airachnid chuckled as she went to claim the cluster.

"What?! You reject a Commander but grovel at the feet of that wrench?!" Starscream stepped forward.

"Starscream, don't get your turbines in a twist. After all, the beast and I are somewhat related. You might even say we are of…one mind," Airachnid merely replied.

"Why are you here?" Starscream asked. "Decepticons never return to stripped mines!"

"You are not the only rogue Decepticon in need of energon," Airachnid stated dryly.

"Was it running into the Autobots? Or did Megatron invite you on one of his 'field trips'?" Starscream immediately guessed.

"Megatron was otherwise engaged. But you should see his lackey," Airachnid smirked, referring to what she did to Breakdown moments before.

"You know, Airachnid, as fellow outcasts, we should consider putting aside our differences. With this creature under your control and at our disposal, we might employ it to terminate Megatron…allowing us to rule the Decepticons," Starscream began to take the chance.

"Together?" Airachnid repeated.

"Simply to lure Megatron here away from his support system so we might catch him," Starscream went on.

"With his guard down, and no reach for his White Cybertronian to protect him..." Airachnid finished, quickly catching on to his proposal, "An intriguing proposal…if ruling Decepticons or spending any length of time with you were of the slightest interest to me. Of course, you had me at terminate Megatron. Payback would be sweet."

"However you wish to spin it," Starscream grumbled. "Wait, did you say White Cybertronian?"

"Oh yeah, you've been left out from the latest news," Airachnid noted. "You see, Megatron just employed a White to his army."

"You want to tell me that Megatron finally got his hand on Optimus Prime's daughter?" Starscream frowned.

"No, not that girl. Another one of White Cybertronians, and half Decepticon," Airachnid explained further.

"Half Decepticon, how...?"

"You're not with the Decepticon now, so does it really matter for you? That boy just serves as the most powerful shield for Megatron. Now, I would need to insure that my assassin is up to the task," Airachnid pointed out, "Perhaps a test run is in order."

"What?! I thought we were partners!" Starscream cried out in shock.

"Eviscerate him!" Airachnid ordered her new minion.

Immediately, the Insecticon made Starscream as his prey. Starscream knew, he was in big, big trouble.

* * *

Back on Autobot base, the monitor beeped loudly.

"What is it?" Bulkhead asked as he stepped forward with Ratchet.

"A high-frequency signal with an embedded message," Ratchet replied.

"Again?" Bulkhead made a remark.

"Starscream," Ratchet read the message out loud. "I have obtained information that may be of extreme interest to you. Bring medical kit."

* * *

The sender of the message was lying on a cliff, with his rear leaking energon badly. Soon enough, a GroundBridge portal opened, Bulkhead and Ratchet walked out of it.

"Clear!" Bulkhead confirmed, and they walked closer to the injured Starscream.

"Make it fast," Ratchet instructed to the jet.

"It would appear that, like myself, Airachnid has gone rogue," Starscream told him.

"What's it to us?" Ratchet scoffed.

"She is planning to retaliate against Me…mankind," Starscream quickly corrected, or rather, lied. "I can provide you with her current location."

"I don't believe you," Ratchet stated the obvious.

"Why wouldn't you? I directed you to the Decepticon Space Bridge so you could rescue Orion Pax, hadn't I?" Starscream reminded them.

"Yeah! But then you helped MECH steal Bumblebee's T-Cog!" Bulkhead snapped angrily.

"So?! He got it back, didn't he?!" Starscream whimpered. "There is one more thing. Looks like the Decepticon managed to get a hand of an unknown White Cybertronian, which was already employed in the army."

"Huh, outdated news! If we want information about that, our White can do much better," Bulkhead smirked.

"WHAT?! How could you possibly know that?!" Starscream widened his eyes in disbelief. Deja vu.

"We're wasting our time here," Ratchet said, and both of them walked away.

Starscream scrambled to prevent them from leaving. "I admit! Allying myself with those vile humans was a colossal error in judgment! But I am alone! I do what I must to survive! But I have paid the price! I am now the one missing his T-Cog!"

"You're grounded?!" Bulkhead said in surprise.

"Thus of little, if any, threat to you," Starscream continued. "But Airachnid and her Insecticon intend to..."

"An Insecticon?! Here?!" Ratchet cried in disbelief.

"How?!" Bulkhead demanded.

"And I would have asked. But I was too busy squeezing through a narrow crevice trying to keep the vermin from chewing my leg off while Airachnid watched," Starscream growled.

Bulkhead and Ratchet glanced to each other. A single Insecticon was more than it needed to create an utter chaos.

* * *

"The reason for our inability to locate Breakdown's signal is all too clear. But how is it you were unable to uncover his remains?!" Megatron scolded Dreadwing before an alarm went off.

"_Heard from Breakdown lately?_" it was Airachnid's transmission.

"Trace the communication," Megatron immediately instructed Soundwave.

"_Megatron, really. You've sent simple henchmen to terminate a high-ranking officer! I thought you reserve that honor for yourself," _the spider bot taunted for a while.

"Is that a challenge?" Megatron demanded.

"_An invitation. And since Soundwave is no doubt tracing this signal, you know where to find me," _with that, Soundwave indeed managed to pinpoint the location.

"I'll be back," Megatron promised as he went to leave.

"Master, allow me to accompany you," Dreadwing pleaded.

"You already had your chance," Megatron snarled before leaving.

* * *

"The coordinates Starscream provided are in the area within an abandoned Decepticon mine," Ratchet briefed the team.

"I began to suspect that abandoned energon mine is the place of favorite of Decepticons," Aria pointed out.

"Hold up! You just fixed him up and sent him away?!" Arcee exclaimed in disbelief.

_What were you thinking?!_ Bumblebee agreed.

"What were we supposed to do? Bring him back here?!" Bulkhead retorted.

"Not that I wouldn't jump at any chance to take Airachnid down, but she isn't the only one who tried to rob me of a partner!" Arcee growled, she was still thirsty for revenge.

"You weren't there, Arcee! Starscream was weak! Defenseless!" the green bot argued.

"And learning of the Insecticon could prove highly tactical! Starscream's Intel has proved credible in the past," Ratchet pointed out.

"Sure! When he wasn't busy stabbing us in the back!" Arcee snarled.

"Without the resources we possessed on Cybertron, we lack ready means of capturing and imprisoning our enemies," Optimus walked in and stopped the argument between his team members. "Nonetheless, I do not condone the termination of any defenseless life form."

"Really, father..." Aria sighed, she knew her father's nature very well. However, she feared that nature alone would fight against him one day. Then again, it was why she existed on the Prime's side, to protect him from any harm.

* * *

Megatron finally arrived at Airachnid's location.

"You don't waste time," Airachnid smirked as she approached her former boss.

"Your stay of execution has come to an end," Megatron prepared to fire his cannon.

Only to be jumped by Insecticon from above. Both of them rolled to the ground, but the Decepticon leader managed to toss the big bug away.

"I will leave you two to get acquainted," Airachnid said as she leapt away.

"Bow before Megatron, your leader," Megatron ordered, he stared at the creature with no fear. Insecticon was part of Decepticon after all.

But the Insecticon was under control of Airachnid already.

"I said bow..." Megatron's growl was cut, as the big bug jumped onto him, and tossed him away. After that, the bug pinned him to the wall forcefully.

Airachnid watched with an evil smirk on her face.

Eventually, Megatron freed his arm and shot the Insecticon away. But as he was about to deliver another blast, Airachnid webbed his fusion cannon, rendering it useless. Cannonless, the bug bot attacked him again, threw him to the air, and managed to scratch his shoulder. But Megatron wasn't to be defeated easily, when the bug was about to attack again, the gladiator sent him crashing to the wall with his punch.

"You and your beast would do well to remember, I honed my skills in the pits of Kaon!" Megatron announced, as he unsheathed his blade. And, the battle ensued between the Decepticon leader and Airachnid's minion.

* * *

Meanwhile, the Autobot force also arrived at the mine.

"Proceed with extreme caution," Optimus warned, as they approached the entrance. Chances were, Airachnid and the Insecticon were inside, but who knew what else that might be there?

* * *

Well, the Autobots were rather surprised to find the scene Megatron battling Insecticon inside.

"Finish him!" Airachnid grew impatient.

"Whoa! Scream never mentioned Megatron!" Bulkhead stated.

"It would seem Starscream orchestrated this convergence in the hope that all his enemies would destroy each other on his behalf," Optimus reasoned.

"And I fell for it!" Bulkhead moaned.

"Then next time I see that Starscream's sorry face, I will just blast his head!" Aria swore.

"You can have whatever's left of Megatron! Airachnid's mine!" Arcee was determined to kill Airachnid whatever it took.

"Wait, Miss Arcee, you already know not to engage the enemy on your own!" Aria already knew what her mentor was about to do, and stepped in front of her.

"Sorry Aria, but I don't wanna hear that from you who always engage your rival on your own," Arcee said, as she leapt off, transformed to motorcycle, and raced to Airachnid's direction.

"That's whole different scenario!" Aria yelled out.

"Arcee, NO!" Optimus' warning went to deaf audio.

Arcee immediately tackled Airachnid as soon as she approached the spider.

"You..." Airachnid growled menacingly to her nemesis.

Nevertheless, Arcee unsheathed her blades, and charged at the spider bot.

Megatron was still in middle of brawl with the bug bot, but he gained the upper hand eventually. After thrashing the Insecticon aside, he finally noticed the group of Autobots above him. "So many surprises today," he noted. The Insecticon was jumping on his head, however, Megatron didn't fall for it for the second time.

* * *

Meanwhile, Arcee was in hot pursuit with her nemesis, she chased her all way to the cave. After a while, Airachnid made her escape by drilling the wall to outside. Arcee shot few rounds to the hole, then the blue femme crawled her way to the hole as well.

* * *

With some more efforts, Megatron amputated the bug bot's limbs. Then he proceeded to severe the head as well.

"And the winner is...Megatron," Aria stated dryly.

"Let that be a warning to anyone who dares cross a gladiator of Kaon! Be that Decepticon!" Megatron announced as Bulkhead, Bumblebee, Aria and Optimus jumped in front of him and aimed their blasters at him. "Or Autobot!"

But the Decepticon leader was fatigued and injured after fighting the Insecticon. And so, he fell to the ground due to exhaustion.

"Wow..." Aria muttered, she didn't think that was going to happen. Megatron was vulnerable, in front of his mortal enemies nonetheless.

"...Aria," Optimus turned to his daughter. "Go after Arcee." Whatever the situation might be, the Autobot leader didn't want Aria to be that close to Megatron.

"What...oh well, alright," Aria casted a last glance to the Megatron, before took off in Arcee and Airachnid's direction.

"Not letting your daughter to be in my range, even in this situation? It would seem that I'm unarmed and are at your mercy," Megatron questioned the Prime. "So tell me, do you intend to take me alive or end this here and now?"

Optimus knew that enough was enough. No matter if he had to break the protocol, he had to end the war at any cost. And so, he deployed his blaster, and aimed it directly to Megatron's head. But he didn't have the chance, as Decepticon forces arrived, and showered him with firings. Dreadwing and Helios were on the lead, and immediately their troops surrounded the Autobots. Dreadwing pointed his cannon to the Prime, when Helios was on standby to deploy his barrier.

"The surprises never cease," Megatron noted.

"Oh scrap," Bulkhead muttered to himself.

Under Dreadwing's order, Helios was there to provide defense as well as offense. The boy looked around, and rather disappointed as Aria wasn't there._  
_

* * *

Arcee was still crawling on the hole, then she felt touching something sticky. She lifted her hands, and they were covered in spider thread. "Scrap!" she cursed herself to fall into Airachnid's trap for the numerous times.

And so, the blue motorcycle was wrapped in webbing and being hung to the tree upper ground in instant. Of course, the culprit was none other than Airachnid.

"This might not be the day I take Megatron's spark. But it is the day I remove yours," Airachnid said, as she crawled on Arcee's body, and prepared to dismantle her nemesis as well.

"Miss Arcee!" but much to the spider's surprise, Aria also popped out of the hole, with blaster aimed. The sea-green femme shot Airachnid away from Arcee, and prepared to remove Arcee's webbing. But before she could do that, Airachnid wrapped the little girl in webbing as well.

"Aria my darling, trying to save your beloved 'Miss Arcee'? I expected no less from you," Airachnid crawled her way to the wrapped girl on the ground.

"Release her, now!" Aria growled menacingly to the spider bot.

"Or what?" Airachnid lifted Aria by her leg, upside down.

"Airachnid, stay away from her!" Arcee yelled out, her struggle to break free was going even more desperate.

"As much as I want to keep you intact, my darling, but I can see how precious you are to Arcee, and to the Prime," Airachnid inched Aria's face closer to hers.

"Don't tempt me..." Aria faced the spider lady with no fear.

But out of nowhere, Airachnid was hit by missile, coming from Starscream.

"How right you were, Airachnid. Payback, is, sweet," Starscream slid down the cliff, and fired another missile to Airachnid.

Airachnid quickly burrowed to underground to avoid the second hit.

* * *

"Deliver Megatron to us and I will allow you to live," Dreadwing ordered.

"Never trust a 'Con! Kick Bucket Head's bucket!" Bulkhead argued back. Just how many times the chance to scrap Megatron with ease came to them? Almost zero.

"You are aware that you are outnumbered, Prime. And, we are equipped with our defense, while yours is absent," Dreadwing noted the missing White Cybertronian on Autobot's arsenal.

Optimus knew their situation. His team were outnumbered, and not to mention, he already sent Aria away. Even if Optimus ignored Dreadwing's threat and opened fire, Helios would surely cast his force field to defend the Decepticons. It was way, way too risky.

"Dreadwing, do I have your word?" Optimus asked.

Dreadwing was silent, but he kept his words. As the prove, he drew back his cannon. That being said, Optimus and his team also drew back their weapons.

"My liege," Dreadwing helped his leader to stand up.

"Dreadwing might have given you his word. But I did not. DESTROY THEM!" Megatron roared.

With that, the Decepticon forces opened fire, and the Autobots retaliated by firing back. Dreadwing, Megatron, and Helios jetted out of the mine.

"You disobeyed my orders in following me here. You will make a fine first lieutenant," Megatron said to Dreadwing.

* * *

Then, Starscream approached the webbed femmes, Arcee first. "Now, if there's two things I despise more than eight-leggers, it's two-wheelers," Starscream sneered.

"Go on. Get it over with," Arcee growled.

"STARSCREAM, you'd better stay away from her!" Aria barked out.

"As I recollect, in a similar predicament, you once allowed me to live," Starscream pointed out, when he sharpened his claws.

"NO!" Aria yelled out, as Starscream swiped his claw.

Not to Arcee's head, but to the end of her webbing. Starscream dropped Arcee to the ground. "Consider us even," Starscream merely said, and he walked closer to Aria next. "Did I fail to mention, that I also despise half Autobot?"

"Then you'd better know that I also despise a scrap head and coward Decepticon jet," Aria hissed, she insulted Starscream with no fear, even if she was unarmed at that time.

Starscream was irritated even more, that femme was very hot headed. In pure anger, he kicked the half Autobot's face.

"STARSCREAM!" Arcee widened her eyes at that scene. "Do whatever you want to me, but leave that girl alone!"

"Shut up, this is between me, and her," Starscream decided it, that little femme was going down first. "Or Aria, should I use you as hostage? Just like what Megatron did to your sister many stellar cycles ago? I bet, even Optimus would not dare to mess with me, if I have you as my shield."

"You also have to think twice before messing with me, Starscream," Aria merely smirked. "And, don't ever attempt to touch me."

"And, what will you do about that?" Starscream was about to grab her.

Then, Aria casted her force field, and eventually sent Starscream flying with it. "Because I would do this," she noted.

"AUGH!" Starscream cried in pain as he tumbled down. He stared at the white barrier in shock. "What on the pit was that?!" well yeah, Starscream had never seen the white force field before.

Eventually, Optimus and the two others had arrived, and the Seeker jet was forced to make his escape.

* * *

"Dreadwing," Megatron spoke. "With this, I officially made you as my second in command, my trustworthy right hand."

"The honor is mine, one true master," Dreadwing bowed in front of Megatron.

Helios just watched from far away. He followed Dreadwing for the rescue mission, but in the end he got nothing from Megatron. He just scoffed, but the boy had no interest in it. Well, he just followed Dreadwing in the first place. But the reason why Helios followed Dreadwing, was because he wanted to settle the matter with the White half Autobot girl. Much to his dismay, that girl wasn't present.

* * *

"Helios was THERE?!" Aria yelled out in disbelief. "Oh man, I missed the party..."

"He just took off with Megatron and Dreadwing," Bulkhead told further. "In the end, that bucket head still alive and well..."

"So is Airachnid," Arcee murmured in low tone. "Next time, I'll scrap her head for sure."

Optimus was on the corner of the command center, deep in the thought. He reflected back to the moment when he was about to kill Megatron.

_So tell me, do you intend to take me alive or end this here and now?_

It was against his will to terminate a defenseless creature, even if it was Decepticon. However at that time...

"Father...? Are you alright?" Aria approached the Prime with concerned look. Optimus didn't give a reply. Aria walked closer, and touched Optimus' leg affectionally. "We will get another chance, both for you and me."

"Yes, another chance..." Optimus repeated, although he didn't know if he could use that another chance for the good.

* * *

Injured slightly, Airachnid burrowed her way to another cave underground. She was totally pissed off.

"Starscream. I vow I will have your head," Airachnid vowed, before she heard strange buzzing from deeper level. So, she checked over the source, and found a large number of Insecticon stasis pod there. "So my warrior was merely a scout."


	15. Nemesis Prime

_"The most common way people give up their power is by thinking they don't have any"_

_Alice Walker_

* * *

It was rather a quiet night, when Special Agent William Fowler was on his car, driving away from his office in military area. He drove to the exit when a soldier saluted to him. "At ease, soldier," Fowler said to the soldier who saluted at him, saluting in return.

He drove to the empty highway. Being a liaison for human government and the Autobots alike really drained his life out. Regardless, he enjoyed it pretty much. In middle of the quietness, he turned on his radio and enjoyed the music. It was a weekend, and there was no harm in enjoying the day off. He was, after all, a regular human being, not a working robot.

Just then, there was another vehicle driving behind him. The very bright headlight blinded the black man.

"Go around, you jerk!" he waved his hand out of his window, motioning for the vehicle to go ahead.

But the big vehicle didn't, it crashed into the sedan instead. Fowler's car spun around as the sudden, and came into a hasty stop.

"That's no road rage! Someone's trying to bump me off!" Fowler cried out. He noticed the vehicle that rammed him over, it was a semi truck, red in color, with Autobot symbol on the front grill "Prime?!" he cried out in disbelief. And the red dusty truck obviously wanted to crash to him again.

* * *

On the Autobot base, a hot race was ensued between the kids and their remote control cars. Raf's yellow car was leading in the first place, Miko's red car was second, Aria's green in third, and Jack's blue in the last. Arcee, Bulkhead, and Bumblebee watched and cheered for their charges.

"Metal to the pedal, Miko!" Bulkhead cheered.

"Go, Jack! Go!" Arcee cheered.

"No! Raf's scorching us!" Miko moaned.

"Eat my dust!" Aria was rather competitive.

"_PRIME! DO YOU READ ME?!" _Fowler's angry voice boomed over the commlink.

"I'm sorry, Agent Fowler. Optimus isn't here at the moment," Ratchet told him.

"_Then I'll take that as a confirmation that he's presently trying to run me off the road!_"

"What?!" Aria screeched her car to the stop.

"Agent Fowler, that hardly seems likely," Ratchet objected.

* * *

"Tell that to my burning treds!" Fowler was in desperate attempt to get away from the mad truck. They approached a bridge soon after. The truck drove to the side and sandwiched the sedan to the barrier bridge. Fowler's car skidded on the barrier and spurted out sparks. As the red truck finally let go, Fowler's car went spinning, before busting the barrier, and dangling dangerously on the edge.

"Come on! Come on…," Fowler tried to reverse his car.

But the truck wasn't finished yet. It attempted to give the dangling car one final push to the ravine below.

"Prime! No!" Fowler cried out in horror.

The Autobots with half Autobot force soon arrived from the GroundBridge. As Fowler's car plummeted down, Bumblebee transformed, jumped, and grabbed the car just in time. Bumblebee held to the bridge and both of him and Fowler dangling on it. Meanwhile, the mysterious truck made its escape.

"You gotta to be kidding me..." Aria skidded her wheel to the stop, and she gazed to the runaway truck.

"Looks like Optimus," Bulkhead observed.

"Primes don't run," Arcee transformed again to chase the runaway truck.

Bulkhead attempted to pull Bumblebee and Fowler, but Fowler's bumper ripped off. Eventually, the car plummeted down with Fowler screaming loudly. Bulkhead then jumped off the bridge, landed on the bottom, and caught the car.

"You alright in there?" Bulkhead asked.

"At ease, soldier," Fowler was rather shaken, and then the airbag popped out in his face.

"Okay, one thing had been taken care of..." Aria noted, as Bumblebee pulled himself back to the bridge. "I'd better follow Miss Arcee..." the ponytail popped out her roller blades again and chased her mentor.

* * *

Arcee was still rolling, and came upon an abandoned gas station. She checked over the surrounding with her headlight. Not too soon, there was headlight, engine sound, and a mad truck speeding toward her. Arcee couldn't believe her eyes, it was a red truck with Autobot symbol on the grill, and the only Autobot who had such characteristic was...

_BLAM_

Aria was still few miles from Arcee's location. "Miss Arcee, do you read me? What's your status?" the ponytail tried to comm Arcee, but no response. Just as she wondered what happened, she was shocked to find the said red truck, speeding on her direction. "It can't be..." she skidded to the stop, and observed the vehicle real close. It did have the characteristic of Optimus, except one...

"Scrap!" she snapped out of her thought, and immediately shielded herself with force field. The truck crashed to her, sent the girl flying together with the barrier. Aria was thrown to the side of the road, unmoving. Seeing that, the truck made its escape to the dark night. Apparently, Aria was still conscious, but barely, and her body was aching.

"_Aria, do you read?__" _came the comm from Bulkhead.

"...I hear you..." Aria forced herself to stand. Thankfully that her organs were half metal, otherwise she would have been squished by the crash. "But...I need assistance..."

* * *

"That's it. Follow the light."

Arcee was already back in the base, and being examined by Ratchet.

"Wait, WHAT?!" Arcee cried out hearing that, but then she signed in relief. "Not the best choice of words, Ratchet."

"Arcee, are you alright?" Jack asked worriedly as Bumblebee and Ratchet helped Arcee out of the chamber.

"Sure…except for being blindsided by Optimus," Arcee answered in disbelief.

"And almost squished me..." Aria added.

"Didn't I tell you?!" Fowler exclaimed.

"Impossible!" Ratchet scoffed.

"I'm only reporting what I saw," Arcee stated.

"Why would Optimus try to knock off Agent Fowler?" Jack pondered aloud. "And trying to run over Aria, his own daughter?"

"Maybe Optimus believes he's a Decepticon all over again," Raf guessed.

"Or he's been faking being a good guy all this time!" Miko piped in.

"It wasn't my father who did all of these, believe me," Aria replied with firm tone.

"And how could you tell?" Fowler said. "If Prime has gone off the rails for any reason, we have a serious problem."

"This is absurd! A quick check for Optimus' signal will reveal that he was nowhere near the location of tonight's incident!" Ratchet walked to check over Optimus' signal. "In fact, he's just returning now."

It was true, they heard the familiar truck engine entering the base, and all of them tensed up. The Autobots decided to see with their own eyes. As the truck approached and transformed to the Optimus Prime, all of the team raised their guard immediately.

"Father..." Aria was about to walk to her father, but being held back by Arcee.

"...Is something wrong?" Optimus asked in confusion upon witnessing his team's weird behavior. And why Arcee was preventing his daughter from getting closer to him?

"Just…wondering where you've been," Arcee answered warily.

"We haven't been able to reach you," Bulkhead asked.

"I have been outside of our communication range..." Optimus said as he bent down to get something.

"WHOA!" and then, all of the Autobots deployed their weapons and aimed it to the Prime. Fowler too, raised his arm to protect the three kids.

"Hey, easy!" Aria was rather shocked as all her teammates pointed their blasters to her father.

"In a subterranean energon deposit," Optimus finished as he pulled out an energon crystal.

Everyone glanced confused look to each others.

"Come on! It's our guy! Can't you tell?!" Jack yelled out.

"It seems that I'm the only one who can tell that!" Aria stepped forward and tried to shield Optimus in case one of her teammates went ballistic. "Now, all of you, lower your weapons! It's our boss, and my father!"

"We're...sorry..." Arcee apologized as she folded back her blasters.

"Don't blame them, Prime. I was attacked earlier tonight on an open highway by a big rig. One that bore a striking resemblance to you," Fowler explained.

"How can you tell, kid?" Bulkhead was still wary.

Aria sighed. "Heart of Wisdom, come out," she summoned. Immediately, Optimus' chassis opened, and the winged white jewel flew out. The Heart flew like a hummingbird and landed on Aria's waiting hand. "Because only my father has this guy inside his chest. And whoever ran me over before obviously didn't have it..."

Optimus widened his eyes at the mention of it. "Aria, what did you just say?" he cut in.

"The one who resembled you as Agent Fowler said, ran me over when I gave a chase," Arcee replied.

"And I was the next victim," Aria continued, as she returned the Heart back to Optimus' chassis.

"Are you alright...?" Optimus looked at his daughter in concern.

"Have been in far worse than this, don't worry," Aria winked to her father. But, there was dread inside the girl. Just who on Earth that imposter was?

* * *

The said imposter was making its way to a military base.

"Halt!" the soldier cried.

But 'Optimus' ignored the warning. He crashed through the gate, and made his way to the center of the base. He smashed all the helicopters there. All polices and personals ran for their lives. Immediately, military vehicles and helicopters came to intercept the intruder.

"_This is a restricted area. Exit the vehicle or we will open fire_!"

Two soldiers cautiously approached the truck. But much to their horror, no one drove that truck. Their suspicions were answered as they witness the truck transform into a Cybertronian being. One that very closely resembled the Cybertronian being they allowed to live as refugees on Earth, and whom they trusted the safety of the planet itself.

"I am Optimus Prime, leader of the Autobots. And I bring you this message," 'Optimus' said as he unfolded his cannon and fired to the human military.

* * *

Minutes after that, Fowler's cell phone ringing. "Fowler," Fowler answered, "What?! That's not possible! I can tell you sure as there are 50 stars on my star-bangled shorts it isn't him!" he sighed heavily, and turned to the Autobots "…Alden Military Base is under attack by Optimus Prime."

"The truck?" Jack guessed.

"The bot," Fowler corrected.

* * *

"FIRE! FIRE!" soldiers were struggling to fight the 30 feet tall robot.

The soldiers shot every weapon they had and desperately tried to dodge the deadly blaster of 'Optimus'. As the chaos still ensued, a GroundBridge opened, and the real Optimus Prime, together with his team, jumped from it. The imposter immediately made its retreat. However, the human military didn't stop their attack.

"There! He brought reinforcements! Resume fire!" one soldier instructed.

The four Autobots rolled to the side to avoid being struck by a missile. But there was more to come.

"HEY!" Aria launched forward, and casted a white barrier to deflected the shootings. "Hold on, we're not here to harm you!" but her cry went to deaf ears.

"Autobots! Return to base! We must not inflict human casualties!" Optimus instructed.

With that, they decided to retreat at once before they were decapitated by the humans, or before _they _decapitated the humans. Immediately, a GroundBridge portal opened. But as the Autobots made run for it, one more missile was fired to them. Thankfully, the GroundBridge shut before the missile hit them.

* * *

"You okay, Aria?" Miko asked to the ponytail who was panting heavily.

"Yeah...but those soldiers hit really hard. Still long way to go with my force field," Aria let out a long sigh.

"No, General Bryce, Optimus Prime did not attack our boys. Because I was with Prime when I received the alert! Yes, sir...the Autobots were at your base, only in response to the initial attack. But, sir! I…yes, sir. I understand," Fowler sighed before hanging up his phone.

"So what's the damage?" Jack asked.

"All military personnel are under strict orders to destroy any and all bots on site," Fowler replied with regret.

"WHAT?!" Aria gasped.

"Are you kidding?!" Jack was skeptical.

"But...but they're innocent!" Raf protested.

"Optimus was framed!" Miko added.

"Though unfortunate, the military order changes nothing. Our impostor clearly poses a grave threat to humanity," Optimus stated.

"A 30 foot transforming impostor," Fowler added.

"They actually did it, those butchers managed to crack the code!" Ratchet got the hint. The culprit was way, way too obvious.

"MECH," Optimus growled.

"Again...!" Aria hissed, she already grew tired of illegal organization, especially the ones who tampered with alien technology.

* * *

Indeed, it was MECH. And the Optimus Prime wannabe was nothing more than Silas' remote control drone. The leader was controlling it from their base, like a video game. And their robot just returned home, shutting down behind Silas.

"Sir, any parallax or latency issues?" the MECH surgeon asked.

"The tele-presence interface performed flawlessly. In vehicular and robot mode," Silas answered in satisfaction.

* * *

"MECH abducted Breakdown. And by all indications, deconstructed him from cranial chamber to heel strut," Ratchet stated the conclusion.

"I was there," Bulkhead commented.

"And we know that more recently, they obtained Starscream's T-Cog," Optimus added.

"Which they evidently installed in a knockoff of you," Arcee added.

"Which, in turn, scanned an appropriate vehicle form..." Ratchet went on.

"Fill the tank with energon..." Jack added.

"And say hello to Nemesis Prime," Miko finished the chronology.

"So where do we start? MECH's base could be anywhere," Fowler pointed out.

"Not necessarily," Optimus argued. "While MECH learned much of our biology..."

"They haven't necessarily absorbed our technology," Ratchet finished. "Without access to a GroundBridge, Nemesis Prime would rely solely on its vehicle mode for transportation."

"Chances are the MECH base..." Arcee continued.

"Is in driving distance of both incidents, great," Aria finished.

"What are we waiting for?! Let's get out there and mash MECH's science project!" Fowler was riled.

"And give Silas an E in his report card for science subject!" Aria was also pumped up, as she bashed her fists to each other. She still held the grudge for Optimus' wannabe for running her over the night before.

"Agent Fowler, I do not think it advisable to put yourself in harms way of MECH's robot again," Optimus protested. "It goes same for you, Aria."

"In case it's not clear, I'm the only one who can tell apart between the impostor and the real deal," Aria argued. "So, I'm part of the strike team."

"And, I don't think it advisable for bots to go on recon with the military out there gunning for you!" Fowler retorted.

"We will maintain vehicular cover until absolutely necessary," Optimus stated.

* * *

That being said, they began the treasure hunt. All of them scouted the area from the Nemesis Prime incidents in vehicle mode. They went in separate ways, except for Aria who was riding with Arcee.

"Nothing but tumble weeds," Bulkhead reported.

"Just a whole lot of empty," Arcee reported.

Aria also served as extra pair of eyes for Arcee. The ponytail was more than pissed. "Stealing Bumblebee's T-cog was one thing, but framing my father is really unacceptable," she murmured. "If I get my hands on that Silas, I will..."

"Blast his head?" Arcee cut in.

"Er, I want to, but father won't let me, obviously. Perhaps I'll just pull every last hair of his almost bald head, then beat him to pulp, then hang him on the top of Liberty statue..." Aria went on.

"That's...harsh," Arcee couldn't help but being amused.

_"I think I found something,"_ Bumblebee reported as he spotted an abandoned factory.

"_Bumblebee, proceed with upmost caution. Reconnaissance only. We will rendezvous with your coordinates," _Optimus warned.

* * *

But, as the yellow car approached the place, he was spotted by MECH's surveillance camera.

"The Autobots are persistent. Time to meet their match, and I'm sure that their half Autobot friend isn't far behind," Silas smirked, and he activated the Nemesis Prime.

* * *

Bumblebee transformed to bipedal mode, then walked closer to the factory. That was when, he heard someone approaching.

"Bumblebee..."

The yellow scout turned around and deployed his blasters to the approaching bot. It was in shape of Optimus Prime, but in the current situation, the yellow scout knew better than to lower his guard.

"Be on your guard, my double could be anywhere..."

_I can't know what's the real and what's not, can I? _Bumblebee asked.

"I'm sorry, what?" yeah, the Nemesis Prime couldn't understand Bumblebee's bleeps.

Bumblebee then knew what was before his eyes, and he opened fire to the impostor. But, Nemesis Prime just dodged it, launched forward, and knocked the yellow scout out cold.

Optimus and the others already reached the place.

"Bumblebee, do you read?" the leader tried to contact Bumblebee, but it was only static.

"Fan out?" Arcee commented, she knew that something bad was already happening. If Bumblebee was already down, then the threat was up close.

"And beware of anything that might resemble me," Optimus warned as they went separate ways to cover the entire ground. "Aria, be careful."

"Sure thing," Aria smiled, before she proceeded with her gun ready. She was rather confidence because she could tell the fake by sensing the Heart. But, she knew not to take things lightly. Regardless, if she met with the fake or the boss, she would be more than happy to give a good beating. "Silas or anyone, don't mess with the protector of the Autobots..." the sea-green femme hissed.

Bulkhead proceeded between buildings, but as he took another step, he was attacked from behind. He and the Nemesis exchanged blows but Nemesis could take the upper hand, and defeated the green Wrecker.

Arcee was rather tense as she pinned herself against a wall. But not soon enough, she heard a blaster charging.

_BLAM_

* * *

"If I could isolate the control frequency remote link Silas is employing, I should be able to pinpoint his exact position," Ratchet said as he worked on his monitor.

"Remote link?" Raf asked

"You didn't think MECH possessed the ability to create a completely autonomous robot, did you?!" Ratchet scoffed.

"I was hoping that Silas would be operating the bot from inside. Because one punch from Bulkhead and BOO YA! BLEH...!" Miko said as she fell back to the floor in her demonstration.

"A-ha! Frequency isolated!" Ratchet gave a bingo.

"Then reopen that bridge," Fowler requested.

"Agent Fowler, did you not hear Optimus advise against your involvement? It's for your own safety!" Ratchet objected.

"Look, Doc. I don't plan on dancing with any bots. But there's a human element on play here. And in case you haven't noticed, I happen to be a highly-trained, government-grade human," Fowler gave his argument.

"Yeah! Plus Silas tried to run him off the road. It's personal!" Miko pointed out.

* * *

"What the..." Aria felt a chill on her spine. She had very bad vibe about this.

"Aria..."

She heard the deep voice calling her name, and the half Autobot spun around, pointing her blaster to the tall figure. "Father...?" Aria called out, but she didn't lower her guard.

"Have you spotted anything unusual?" the mech walked closer to the girl.

"No...not yet, father," Aria lowered her blaster a bit. "But you know, I think, I spotted some strange lights coming from that direction," Aria spun around to point at the north.

"Oh really...?" the mech was about to throw a punch.

Only to be dodged by Aria, and be punched in the gut. Boy, the girl hit hard. "But then again, the strange thing is always closer than we previously thought," Aria stated to the impostor. "It's 100 years too early for you to fool me, scarface!" Aria knew, since she sensed no Heart from the mech before her.

"I was...rather impressed that you know..." Nemesis Prime, or rather, Silas, stated. "As expected from the daughter of Optimus Prime. What are you going to do now, fighting against your own father figure?"

"I only have one father, and it's not this mindless drone created by a stupid gang boss!" Aria yelled out, she unsheathed her blades and immediately charged to the mech.

"Brave little girl, aren't you?" Silas commented as his robot dodged the slash, and delivered his another punch.

Aria tried to block it, but the punch from 30 foot tall robot with Optimus' raw strength was a thousand tons of wrecking ball. She cracked her hand armor as the result.

"Scrap...!" she cursed as Silas' robot attacked again. She quickly rolled to the side, deployed her blaster, and fired at the robot. With a deadly white blast, she managed to score some hit. "Teach you right," she was rather satisfied, until the mech fired a payback and charged forward at the same time. Aria retreated backward while shooting at the same time. And much to her shock, Nemesis lunged forward. Aria casted a force field with reflex, causing Silas' robot to squash at the barrier.

"This was the thing you used at the other night," Silas stated, then smirked. "Show me again." The robot then started to launch a series of punches.

Having no choice, Aria was forced to maintain the barrier, which she couldn't hold for long. Especially with the megaton punches rammed her force field. "Scrap...!" she mentally cursed. Eventually, the barrier was broken with last punch, crashing to the girl at the same time. Aria was sent flying and crashing to nearby building, she was knocked out instantly.

"Silas, stay away from her!" the real Optimus came, and rage was presented on his eyes, after witnessing his daughter being hurt. "The deception ends here, Silas!"

"Does it?" Silas asked with a smirk.

Let the battle began, Nemesis shot few fires, and Optimus retaliated with his own blasters. Then the hot fight ensued.

* * *

Meanwhile, Fowler was bridged to the location. But, he felt rather sick after entering the GroundBridge for the first time.

"I think I'm going to toss the breakfast I ate back at flight school," Fowler moaned.

_CLANG!_

He saw Optimus and Nemesis were engaged in very hot fight. Then, his phone rang.

"_Agent Fowler, the control frequency is transmitting from a structure 100 meters due north!_"

"Copy that," Fowler acknowledged as he hung up.

* * *

"Wow...!" Aria was hit by powerful shockwave as Optimus threw the impostor to nearby power source, causing it to blow up. For the girl, it was rather weird to see two Optimuses fighting each other. "Go father...! Just scrap his head!" she cheered silently.

But the impostor wasn't to be underestimated, so was Silas. He could overpower the real Prime with ease. "My robot chassis possess all your strength, speed and firepower. I think your daughter knows it too," the boss echoed.

Optimus was enraged, and he tacked Nemesis with a roar. However, the robot just threw the Prime aside.

"FATHER!" Aria screamed out, she struggled to stand up.

"Add my extensive combat training and MECH has clearly achieved the perfect meld between man and machine," Silas proclaimed. The robot then climbed a pipe to the top of roof bunker, and Optimus followed close behind. They exchanged more blows on there. Optimus managed to gain upper hand for a moment, but not for long. Soon, Optimus widened his eyes as Silas stabbed his belly with his blade.

"But the key difference between you and me…my body can't feel pain!" Silas struck the blade deeper, making Optimus cried out in pain.

"Father!" it was very unbearable for Aria to see her father in pain. With the Heart of Wisdom and unbreakable family bond, Aria could feel what Optimus felt.

That was it, she was going to kill Silas. She deployed her blaster and pointed it to the roof, but then noticed a knocked out guard on the top of building. Aria then got the idea, if that guard was there, it meant the bunker itself was where Silas controlled his toy. "Alright then...why target for the body when the head is before my eyes..." she murmured, and folded her blaster back. The half Autobot popped out her wheel, and skidded backward few meters from the bunker.

"This is just the beginning. Imagine an army of transforming robots. No one will stand against the newly rebooted MECH," Silas announced.

"Think again, Si," Fowler was already there, knocking out all of Silas' guards.

"Agent Fowler. In the flesh at last," Silas smirked as he got up from his seat and faced the Agent.

"And I'm pulling the plug on your video game!" Fowler sent a punch to the scarface, but being tossed to the floor instead. "Ex-military?"

"Special Tactics," Silas shrugged, "You?"

"Army Rangers," Fowler managed to sent a punch at last.

"Retired, clearly," Silas observed dryly as he dodged more punches.

"I may be out of shape. But I..OOF!" Fowler cried out as Silas sent him an uppercut, and making him rolling to the ground again.

Then, they heard very loud crash. It was Aria, busting through the thick, concrete wall by ramming her metal body forcefully. Optimus was up there and in pain, so the girl didn't want to waste any time and just faced it head on. "SILAS!" she roared. Aria transformed back to her human mode, and smashed to Silas with sheer power. The recovered guards pointed their guns to her, but the ponytail just thwarted them aside like rag doll.

"Agent Fowler...? So that's why there are busted up masked men all over..." Aria glanced to the agent. "You okay?"

"At ease, soldier..." Fowler was rather surprised by how the tiny girl could fight. Yeah, she was half metal and all, but still...

"It's you..." Silas quickly recovered, and glared at Aria. "You got a heavy pack under your tiny arms. Ex-military as well?"

"Human slayer," Aria sent a murderous glare, then charged forward. Silas tried to punch the girl, but Aria just blocked it, and sent a very powerful jab to the man's belly. "This is for Bumblebee!" a hook to his face, "For my father!" and finally, an uppercut, "For everything...!" she vented out her anger, the girl was more than just pissed off. "I give you F for failure. Let this be your first and last warning! As long as I'm still function, do not ever think to mess with my teammates and family!"

"Easy there girl," Fowler put his hand on Aria's shoulder. "There's no need for you to bust him."

"Yeah..." Aria let out a deep breath. "I don't want to waste my energy on this crook anyway. We just need to buy my father a little time."

Silas wondered what that would be mean, but then he eventually got the hint.

His robot was standing lifeless, and Optimus was already on his feet, ready to deliver the killing blow. Silas quickly jumped to his controller, and blocked the fist of the Prime. But, Optimus was more than ready to end that once and for all. Silas' robot was eventually overpowered.

"No...! No...!" Silas gasped in horror as his controllers weren't functioning properly.

"Go, my father!" Aria cheered loudly.

Series of punches were thrown as payback. And then, Optimus jumped, and hammered his copy with both of his hands. Boy, that was the hard one. The roof started to crack, busted, with the Nemesis falling from it...and plummeted to Silas.

"NOOOO!" the big boss cried out in horror as his own robot fell on top of him.

_CRASSSHHHH_

With that, the yellow optics also dimmed out, the end of the Optimus wannabe.

"Ouch..." Aria winced to the scene. "That's going to be hurt a lot..."

"WHOA!" Fowler yelled when the smoke cleared.

"Agent Fowler?" Optimus questioned as he looked down to the busted building.

"Nice job there, father," Aria gave a thumb up.

Soon after, the sound of arriving helicopters buzzed up.

"That would be our boys. I'd advise you and your girl to get back to base, Prime. I'll handle Uncle Sam," Fowler said.

Optimus nodded in agreement.

* * *

"So how weird was it to see someone looking exactly like Optimus kicking the scrap out of you?" Miko asked Bulkhead when they returned to base.

"Whew," Bulkhead just groaned.

"Really...nasty..." Aria merely commented. "Though, at the very least, I could get my fist to that Silas' sorry face," she bashed her fists again.

"It's a sight I won't soon forget," Arcee remarked.

"Father, you alright?" Aria asked worriedly to her father. Optimus was treated by Ratchet.

"I am good. The question is whether MECH will function as we know it without its leader," Optimus stated.

Soon after, Fowler contacted them. "_Well, here's a kicker. We've sifted through the wreckage with a fine toothcomb. And couldn't find any trace of Silas._"

"Oh sweet, just how many punches do we need to take down one man?" Aria muttered dryly.

* * *

Indeed, Silas was alive, albeit barely.

"The internal damage to his organs is massive and beyond the scope of conventional medicine. Fortunately for our leader, MECH is anything but conventional," the MECH surgeon announced. They referred to the remains of Breakdown they recovered before.


	16. Nothing Left But Hatred

"_If you are lonely when you're alone, you're in bad company"_

_Jean-Paul Sarte_

* * *

It was pretty rare for Helios to get out of the warship and blended into human environment. Megatron already gave the boy a permission to take a walk, as long as he returned within reasonable hours. Helios was walking in the town of Jasper. The reason why he wanted a walk all of the sudden, because he really needed to clear his head. He wanted to think back about the aspect of his life, and the gloomy warship wasn't the best choice for it.

The Spanish boy took a seat on empty bench at park, and then he watched people coming and going pass him. Helios never gave that much thought ever since he lived the wealthy and strict life as Adrian Kurt, and since he lived as a Decepticon. It was all because, for all his entire life, he lived for a purpose of somebody else. He was raised that way. First, the purpose of becoming heir of the Kurt, and now, as Megatron's subordinate.

Helios thought, it was fine with him. That was until he met up with Aria. For some reason, the brunette thought that girl was, in all way, weird. In his point of view, that girl too, lived to serve the Autobot force. Although, he didn't know much about her background story, despite her being half White Cybertronian as him. But, there was something different.

_Listen Helios, there's another way! _

Helios really didn't understand any of it, and he thought he didn't want to know anyway. Because, he didn't know how to live if nobody was telling him what for. And because he was now a half Decepticon, the only ones who would accept him were Decepticons alike.

He let out a huge sigh, there was one more question though. Why was that girl care about him? Was it merely because he was a fellow half machine? Before he even thought about that, his eyes widened to see two people walking and took a seat on another bench located few meters from him. They were Alfredo and Lucio Kurt, Helios' father and stepbrother. The brunette was pretty surprised to see his father was wheeled in wheelchair. Lucio was a full grown adult by now, but Helios still could recognize him.

"Huh...?" Lucio met the eyes of Helios a bit. But the latter boy just gazed away his eyes. The blonde kept his eyes on the boy until he and his stepfather settled down on the bench.

"What is it, Lucio?" Alfredo asked. Though they were separated pretty far, Helios was able to hear their conversation thanks to his super audio receptor.

"No, that boy over there, doesn't he resemble Adrian a bit?" Lucio pointed to the brunette boy.

Helios heard it, but he still kept his head cool. There was no way Lucio or Alfredo could recognize him, because Helios was practically stop aging, and still looked the same as the last time they saw him.

"Maybe, a bit," Alfredo merely noted.

"Brings back old memory for me. I had never had the chance to know him better," Lucio made a note. "For some reason, he didn't like me the slightest. Every time I wanted to play with him, he just completely ignored me."

_Of course, _Helios thought. He remembered, Lucio was nice and all. But there was a reason why Helios couldn't accept his stepbrother. Because, when Lucio was proven to be more capable than him, Alfredo immediately started to turn his attention to the adopted son. He began to love Lucio more than his own biological son. And that, was unacceptable for Helios.

"That boy was jealous, because you were far smarter than him. Such a childish manner," Alfredo scoffed. "Thanks to you, my company has a bright future for many years ahead. I couldn't thank more, Lucio."

"My pleasure, father," Lucio merely answered. "I...still feel bad about Adrian though."

"Don't be, my son. After all, even if he didn't run away that night, I still thought of disposing him. My brothers and sisters told me to just send him to local orphanage," Alfredo confessed.

Helios gritted his teeth, but that was to be expected. It was all too clear, that his family didn't need him. They didn't want him.

"He was after all, no use. Just like Cassandra."

Alfredo's next words made Helios widened his eyes to the end. _What?_

"What do you mean?" Lucio asked.

"After Cassandra got herself with leukemia, it was all too clear that her life wasn't going to be very long. All the chemotherapy, medications, they were all just to keep her alive one year longer," the old man replied. "But in the end, she was going to die anyway. And so, I just told the doctors to stop all of their pointless medications."

Helios was in horror, he couldn't believe it at all. His father never told him that thing.

"What?!" Lucio gasped in horror.

"You have to understand it, my son. It was no use to keep dying candle alive. Extinguish it sooner would be best option. At that time, Cassandra was in point of no return. After all, there's this saying that keep flowing in Kurt family. _Keep value of what values you_. Come on, we have to go to the airport now, or we will miss our plane."

Lucio wheeled his stepfather away, oblivious to murderous glare of the boy resembling his missing stepbrother behind.

_It can't be..._Helios' heart just shattered after hearing that. So that was why, Cassandra's life was cut very short. When she was battling with her leukemia, Alfredo made the doctors stopping the much needed medication.

_I love you, my little brother..._

_NO! DON'T DIE, SIS!_

The brunette boy couldn't hold his anger much longer. He clenched his fists until his fingernail dug into the skin. "Cassandra..." he muttered with cracked voice. His feeling was mixture of anger, sadness, and regret. If only Alfredo continued her medications, Cassandra would be still with him, even just for a little longer. Alfredo robbed not only Cassandra's survival chance, but also Helios' much needed care and love.

That was it, he would make all of them pay for what they've done.

* * *

"WHOOHOO! Rock Festival baby!" Miko cheered out loud in Jasper public.

The four kids just finished watching Jasper Rock Music Festival, and made their way to the center of the town. Out of them, only one who was still pumped up, even if the show already ended.

"Miko, keep it down. You make us the attention," Jack warned. Miko's antics caused all people to stare at them.

"Let them watch me, and be rocked! Slash Monkey is the king of the world!" the pigtail girl bounced all over the place with rock-on sign on both hands.

"Regardless, I still prefer Smash Iron. Their music is much suited to my taste," Aria argued.

"Why you have to mention those mellow boys?" Miko grunted.

"So, what's our next plan? It's still all to early for lunch," Raf said as he looked at his cellphone for clock.

"How if we go to game center?" Aria suggested. "I still have my share of Combatants Hell with Miko."

"You want to settle the old score, then be done with it!" Miko slapped her metal friend's back playfully. "Game center, here we come!"

"What a good way to spend more excess energy before meal," Jack mused.

And so, they walked pass the Jasper Park to the way to game center. It was perfect time for Aria to come out and enjoy some youthful time with her three friends. She was wearing the pink jacket to cover her black suit.

"Speaking of, Optimus is still in military base?" Jack asked to Aria.

"Yeah, attending the meeting with Agent Fowler. You know, to clear things up. The Generals still don't believe that my father was innocent for those attacks," Aria referred to MECH and Nemesis Prime incident. "Well, father told me that everything's gonna be alright. Like I have to worry that much anyway..."

"Dealing with the headstrong military is the harsh part..." Jack moaned.

"I hear you," Aria noted.

"Hey, after lunch, let's go to the shopping mall! There's this cool tank top I wanna buy!" Miko piped in.

"Miko, I think we're going to the science exhibition after lunch..." Raf moaned.

Aria just chuckled on her friends' antics. "Hard to say, but the place I wanna go to..." her word was cut short as she spotted someone familiar sitting on the bench. It was rather far, but the ponytail could see a brunette boy. "Helios...?" the ponytail muttered in disbelief. She ran past her friends to get a closer look. And as she expected, it was him.

Helios too, saw Aria approaching him. The half Decepticon was rather surprised, didn't expect to meet that girl there. Behind her were three teens whom he never met before.

"It's you!" Aria too, didn't expect the boy to be in public. But nonetheless, she was rather glad.

"Who?" Raf asked, he saw the boy but barely recognizing him.

Didn't wait anymore, Helios stood up and walked away.

And hell no Aria would let him. "Wait!" the girl sprinted forward, trying to catch the boy. But as expected, Helios made run for it. "WAIT!" and Aria gave a chase.

"What the...Aria wait!" Miko, Raf, and Jack rather surprised, and they too pursued their half metal friend. But, Aria was way, way too fast. "Where is she going?!" Miko asked as they lost track of her.

Helios and Aria were playing dog and cat as they mashed through the populated area. They already raced away from the park and speeding through the town. Helios made his way to some dark alley, with Aria in hot pursuit.

"Helios, wait!" Aria made her turn to the said alley, but then she lost sighting of the boy. "What the...? Scrap...!" she cursed as she realized she lost him, again. Then, her comm link beeped.

"_Aria, what are you doing? Where are you now?"_ it was from Miko's cellphone.

"I'm next to the shopping mall, I think..." Aria replied, and saw the said shopping mall few miles from her position.

_"What? Hungry for shopping already?"_

"No, I thought I still had Helios in my range. But now, not anymore..." the ponytail replied.

"_Helios? That spiky looking boy? No kidding..." _Miko was sounded surprised.

"_So that was Helios? Didn't expect to see him in this area, a Decepticon nonetheless,"_ Jack piped in. "_Should we tell the others about this...?"_

"...Nah, no need to raise the alarm now. But I'll just report it when I have the chance," Aria didn't see the need to notify the Autobots, as she saw no imminent danger. After all, it was Helios, not Megatron. She walked out of the alley. "Are you guys still in the same place? I'm on my way..."

Helios didn't vanish, he just leapt and hid on the second story of certain building. He watched as the girl left the alley, and left him. As Aria completely vanished from sight, he waited few seconds more before leaping down again. Helios let out a long sigh. He reflected back to seconds before, when he met her eyes out of the blue. Strangely enough, his burning revenge died down when Aria approached him.

"_Helios," _came the transmission from Knock Out. "_Come back here immediately. Lord Megatron wished to see you."_

"On my way," he still had the desire to take revenge, but now, work came first. If the chance came, he would go for it. Helios deployed his jetpack, and soared off to the sky like supersonic jet.


	17. Armada

_"The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong"_

_Mahatma Gandhi_

* * *

"Ouch...my head gasket...!" Bulkhead moaned in pain as he pulled himself free from the pile of boxed energons. Well, among every places he already visited before, this was the strangest one. "What the?! The 'Con's warship?!" he yelled out in disbelief. As he was still in denial, the green bot took few steps back, but he realized that there was a hole on the floor. A hole leading to the outside, which was above 300 feet from the ground. Bulkhead knew it, he was airborne, and in the enemy's warship nonetheless.

"Ratchet, don't ask how I got here, long story. Ratchet! Do you copy?!" Bulkhead tried to contact his base, but it looked like the warship blocked the signal. "Oh scrap."

The green Wrecker decided to get himself out of the ship on his own, somehow. So, he carefully left the storage room. Being discovered by a single Decepticon was a whole lot of trouble. "Stealthy...stealthy..." he muttered to himself. But as he left the door, he heard footsteps. Quickly, he was about to get back to the storage, but the door was already closed. So, he hid his bulky body behind a wall. After that, Bulkhead took few steps more to the back, until he bumped into someone. In reflex, he spun around and aimed his cannons, only to find Starscream there.

"Starscream?!" Bulkhead called out.

"Why is it when I return to my old stomping ground, I find an Autobot roaming the halls?!" the said Decepticon moaned aloud.

"Don't tell me you came crawling back to Megatron," Bulkhead guessed.

"Hardly! Now out of my way!" Starscream tried to shove Bulkhead away.

"Scream, you've gotta show me the way off this boat," Bulkhead requested.

"Sorry, too busy," the jet said, uninterested.

"Look, when you needed help..." Bulkhead began.

"As I recall, we bartered! Now…unless you have anything of value to offer me, step aside!" Starscream cut in.

"The exit! NOW!" the green Wrecker threatened.

"I may have given Arcee a free pass when we last met!" having enough, Starscream struck Bulkhead's chest with his claws. "But I won't hesitate to skewer you just like I did a certain Cliffjumper!"

Bulkhead took few steps back, and he examined the scratch marks on his chest. Yeah, that was right, the Con before him was the cause of one of his teammate's demise. And hell no he would let anybody get away with it. Angered, Bulkhead deployed his wrecking ball, charged forward and gave a punch to Starscream.

"Perish, Bulkhead!" Starscream deployed his own cannons, but shocked as Bulkhead jumped on him.

Bulkhead decided that it was time for payback. "This is for Cliffjumper!" _BONK_ "For Bumblebee!" _THUD_ "For everything!" _CRASH__  
_

It was the final and the killing blow. Bulkhead knew that everything was over, both his revenge, and Starscream's life.

"You left me no choice..." Bulkhead snarled.

* * *

24 hours earlier...

"What I would not give to have wings again!" it began from when Starscream was wandering around the other part of Harbinger, the very place that they stored Immobilizer before. "Ah… just as I have left it. The Harbinger...things are finally looking up," Starscream smirked, thinking that he would find something useful inside.

Only to find out that he wouldn't

"REALLY?! NOT ONE SCRAP OF ENERGON?!" Starscream screamed out in frustration, and he lashed out to the wall nearby.

He then heard something from other side, there was a room with door open. He peered to the interior, and recognized it immediately.

"A laboratory?" Starscream walked inside and checked the computers. "And it's functional. Protoforms?" He asked to the five protoforms stored in glass tube in front of him.

* * *

Meanwhile, Bulkhead was driving on a savannah somewhere. It was rather quiet and peaceful drive, until his scanner beeped, detecting energon signal nearby.

"Bulkhead to base. Picked up a strong reading. Gonna check it out," Bulkhead reported as he drove off the road and to the source of the signal.

* * *

"Let's see. Transference of binary bonding, sub molecular infusion…the formula seems straightforward enough," Starscream realized that he was stumbling upon the technology of cloning. Of course, an idea began to form inside his head.

"Well, my little lumps of clay, you seem just ripe for molding. Let's give cloning a whirl, shall we?"

* * *

Bulkhead came upon a giant crater leading to underground. He immediately deduced that there was energon below.

"No sign of activity," Bulkhead observed.

He decided to climb down to check over. If there was energon, big jackpot.

* * *

Starscream began the cloning procedure, by taking sample of his energon. He then placed the vial to the cloning machine, and turned it on. Immediately, electricity flowed from the cables and to the six protoforms.

"GIVE ME LIFE!" Starscream roared as he flipped the switch.

The protoforms began to take shape, resembling the one who gave the genetic code. In matter of minutes, there were five Starscreams.

"Ah…like-minded company, at last," Starscream smirked in satisfaction.

* * *

Bulkhead still climbed down the crater until he was able to see the bottom. There were energons, a lot, already processed and packed.

"Energon?! All boxed and ready for pickup?!" Bulkhead said in surprise, then it hit him, it was one of Decepticon's energon deposit.

To make things even worse, the Decepticon warship was already there to pick up the next batch.

"SCRAP!" he cursed to himself. Whatever it was, he didn't want to face a whole Decepticon army all by himself. But, he knew that he couldn't let the Decepticon got all the prizes. So the green bot climbed down, hoping to get some cubes for his team. But, all of the sudden, his foot slipped, and he fell on top of the cubes rather harsh. He was knocked unconscious.

The Decepticon warship picked up their load, with Bulkhead in it.

* * *

"Esteemed members of my armada, you now stand upon the very percipience of glory! To meet the destiny of which I so tenaciously worked toward...!" Starscream began to brief his new soldiers.

"Dynamic leadership of the Decepticons!" one of his clones finished.

"I am delighted to hear that we are on the same page," Starscream replied nervously.

"We are as one, commander," one clone said.

"We share your memories," another continued.

"Your very feelings," another clone added more.

"Even your sensational quest for power," the last one finished.

"...I see..." Starscream cleared his throat, he could cut short the explanation. And so, he didn't need to explain the reason behind the creation of the clones. All of the Starscreams, together with the real one, walked out of the Harbinger.

"Fortunately, The Harbinger's tracking systems have remained synced with the Decepticon warship. Of course, we shall require a means of reaching them..." Starscream thought aloud, but he heard a familiar sound from behind. As he spun around, the five clones were already in their jet mode, the thing that the real one couldn't do currently.

"You can transform?!" Starscream gasped in surprise before quickly catching it. "Of course you can. How else can you fly to the ship? That was a test, of which, you all passed. Now take flight and snuff Megatron's accursed spark!" then with his cue, the five jets soared off to the sky, to pursue their shared foe.

* * *

"My head gasket..." Bulkhead pulled himself free from the blue cubes. And well, that was the chronology of everything.

* * *

And within some moments, the Starscream gang arrived inside the Nemesis. Didn't take very long for them to locate and sneak inside.

"Spread out, keep to the shadows," one clone instructed his teammates.

"Any one of us is a instant target aboard this warship!" one of the clones argued.

"But to be seen together would sacrifice the element of surprise," another one stated.

"Whoever manages to find Megatron first, report your position!" another instructed.

And so, they began to split into various directions. One clone tiptoed his way to a hallway, and he froze as he spotted few Vehicons from far away. Of course, being caught when alone was the last thing any clone wanted to happen. So, the Starscream no 1 took few steps back.

Only to bump into somebody. Not a Decepticon, but of course still a trouble, even though lesser endangering. It was Bulkhead.

"Starscream?!" Bulkhead cried in surprise.

* * *

The real Starscream paced back and forth.

"I cannot wait to save the vivid details of Megatron's demise!" Starscream laughed. But all of the sudden, he felt like his body was being attacked. Of course, there was no one near him to attack him. Then he realized, it wasn't him, but one of his clone, being beaten.

"What is happening?!" Starscream cried out in horror.

It was when Bulkhead was pounding the clone to death.

"_This is for Cliffjumper!_"

"AUGH!"

"_For Bumblebee!_"

"AGH!"

"_For everything…_"

Starscream felt like his head was going nuts. "My genetic code provides my clones with a T-Cog I no longer possess! And all I get is their agony?!"

* * *

Inside the Nemesis, Bulkhead was hiding the body of Starscream out of plain sight. Of course, if anybody found that body, the green Wrecker would be in big trouble. After he walked out of the place he hid the body, he found the room that he might need for escape.

"A comm unit!" Bulkhead cheered as he ran towards it and began using it. But of course, he had no real experience with tech, not like the others. "Bulkhead to base! Do you read?! Do you copy?! Stupid 'Con tech! Is this thing even on?!" he began to type various keys, and finally an alarm went off. Quickly he pressed another button and thankfully the alarm shut down. But, the alarm caused several Decepticon drones to come.

Bulkhead immediately made his escape. As three drones came to the comm unit, they spotted another Starscream clone wandering. The said traitor was shocked that he had been caught, and took off running.

"HALT!" the drones then began their pursue to the traitor.

Bulkhead made his move, but not realizing that he already set a Decepticon beacon on...

* * *

Which was picked by Airachnid who was in copter mode.

"A Decepticon beacon," Airachnid stated, "At last…"

Of course, she also had the intention to take Decepticon command away from Megatron. And so, she transformed and landed to where the Insecticons stasis pods stored.

"Devoted servants, the time has come for the ultimate retribution," Airachnid summoned.

Immediately, the Insecticons inside the pod awakened.

* * *

"Optimus, no word yet from Bulkhead," Ratchet reported, "But I am detecting some rather interesting subterranean frequencies."

"Of Earthly origin?" Optimus asked.

"I do not yet know what they are. But I do know where," Ratchet showed his findings.

"The coordinates of where we last encountered Megatron," the last Prime stated as he studied the coordinates.

"And Airachnid," Arcee hissed.

"And Airachnid's Insecticon," Ratchet added more.

"Don't forget Starscream," Aria finished.

* * *

The Insecticons began to pop out from their pods.

"Arise, my armada! AND ATTACK!" Airachnid instructed.

With that, the Insecticons swarm flew out of the cave.

* * *

Just then, the Autobots arrived at the place, and they witnessed the Insecticons army buzzing on the sky.

"Wow, there's A LOT!" Aria gaped at the number. "And...where are they going?"

"We are in all likelihood witnessing the launch of a mission to terminate Megatron," Optimus replied.

"I can't think of a reason to stop that. Even if we could," Arcee argued.

"But we can stop Airachnid," Optimus stated. They all looked below to see the said spider bot was still standing there.

Airachnid sensed that something was behind her. She looked up to see the Autobots were charging their weapons to her. Airachnid just smirked, because she could get more preys in one haul.

"Rear guard, engage the Autobots," Airachnid instructed.

Immediately, six Insecticons separated from their group, and began shooting at the Autobots.

"INCOMING!" Aria immediately shielded her teammates with her white barrier. The blasts from the Insecticons merely produced smokes outside the white force field.

"Annoying girl...!" Airachnid cursed, but then another idea formed on her mind. However, she spotted Arcee racing out in her motorcycle mode, and sped down to the cliff, to Airachnid. Airachnid immediately transformed to spider mode, and made her escape.

Arcee was in hot pursuit, she wasn't going to let the spider away again this time. It was a vow.

Optimus, Bumblebee, and Aria began to shoot at numerous Insecticons.

Airachnid put some good distance between her and her rival. Eight leggers versus two wheeler, the spider was rather fast. Then, she whispered more command telepathically to her Insecticons, "Destroy the rest, but bring me that little girl, intact." Of course, besides Megatron, she still had her eyes on Aria.

* * *

Bulkhead was crawling his way throughout the Nemesis' vent system.

"Stealthy...stealthy..." he still muttered to himself. But much to his shock, Megatron's feet was right at his side. Bulkhead peeked more to see Helios was right at Megatron's behind.

"_Lord Megatron!"_

"Yes, what is it?" the Decepticon leader asked back.

"_We have an intruder_!"

"Autobot?" Megatron guessed.

Bulkhead immediately hid his head lower to the vent.

"_Starscream! He was last seen in the vicinity of the bridge_!"

Frowning, Megatron started to head to the said place, with Helios following him from behind.

Bulkhead was confused. If his memory served right, Starscream was already being scrapped by the green Wrecker. Why all of the sudden...?

But his thought was interrupted as Helios' face popped up. Immediately, his spark skipped a beat. The Decepticon boy found him!

The white Decepticon's hearing was apparently more accurate, as he could hear very small movement inside the cramped vent. Helios just stared at the nervous Bulkhead without expression. Meanwhile, Bulkhead already feared that it may be his end of story.

"Helios, what are you doing over there?" Megatron called out.

"...My apologize, Lord Megatron. It's nothing..." Helios stood back up. For some reason, he didn't want to reveal the presence of an Autobot inside the warship. Or rather, he wasn't interested in it. He walked away to join his leader again.

Bulkhead couldn't believe what he just heard. That half Decepticon just covered for him? Well, it was an unexpected luck, and he knew better than to waste it, and continuing crawling to seek a way out.

* * *

Meanwhile, Optimus and the other two were still busy firing at the Insecticons swarm.

_They're so many! _Bumblebee moaned as he still fired continuously.

"Bear with it, Bee..." Aria commented. Arcee already raced to chase Airachnid, as always. And her greatest worry was, her idol would be in dangerous situation again. When Aria didn't want interfere with Arcee's personal business, it was already a vow for the little girl to ensure her teammate's safety.

Little did they know, not all Insecticons were airborne. There were few hiding from the plain sight. And, they finally decided that it was the perfect time to come out. Not to strike, but to snatch. They were in mission to get Aria, per instruction from Airachnid.

"HEY!" all of the sudden, one Insecticon flew at Aria's blind spot, grabbed her left arm, and flying away.

"Aria!" Optimus cried out when he saw Aria was snatched by the Insecticon away.

Bumblebee was about to shoot the bug, but Optimus prevented him to. It was all too risky to shoot when Aria was in the range. The two mechs wanted to give a chase, but the Insecticon and Aria were airborne and there were still too many bugs to deal with.

"Release me, bug!" Aria flailed her body, trying to release her hand. Having no choice, she aimed her right cannon, and blasted the Insecticon's head. As the result, the sea-green femme plummeted down to the ground, and it was rather high.

But the problem hasn't ended yet. Another Insecticon grabbed the half Autobot again, but this time, smashed her powerfully to the ground. With the blow, Aria was knocked unconscious. Finally, the Insecticon could manage to grab her and bring the package to the queen, Airachnid.

"Aria, no!" Optimus cried in horror, but there was little he could do as they were still being attacked by the swarm. Optimus immediately went ballistic, he fired every Insecticons with renewed vigor. He had to end it soon, so he could save his daughter.

* * *

Arcee was still in pursuit of Airachnid. Airachnid was few feet in front of the blue motorcycle, but the spider bot knew that Arcee would catch up anytime soon.

But there was a problem for Arcee, two Insecticons were chasing her from the air. And they soon opened fire to the blue femme. Arcee drove zig zag to avoid all the shootings. Eventually, one Insecticon crashed into a tree, and rolled down on the ground.

"NO!" Airachnid shrieked as the falling Insecticon eventually crashed into her, sending her rolling into lower ground.

Arcee transformed to her bipedal mode, and she saw Airachnid made her escape by drilling to the underground.

"Underground, there's surprise," Arcee commented as she approached the hole. Deploying her blasters, she too, jumped down to the hole.

* * *

"Rise and shine, Aria."

Aria regained consciousness, and gasped in horror as the first thing she saw was Airachnid's face, very close to her own face. When she tried to move her limbs, she found out that her limbs and body were secured tightly with spider web. She was hung by a single thread to the ceiling few feet from the ground, and that was the scary part. Aria noticed that the Insecticon who abducted her seconds before was already gone.

"Ah, you wake up," and Airachnid was in her spider mode, and crawled on the platform near Aria. "I have to admit, your face when sleeping was so...charming."

"Where is this?" Aria questioned, as she looked around the cave to see many stasis pods.

"This is the place where my warriors stay, hidden from the world," the spider femme replied. Airachnid felt like she got her long lost treasure. She trailed the half Autobot's body with her spider limbs. "Your body is so smooth and sleek. I wonder if this is truly a trait for any White Cybertronian in that case."

Aria shivered in disgust as Airachnid's limbs crawled all over her body. Then, she heard someone was entering the cave.

"Do not make any sound," threatened Airachnid, she put one of her sharp limbs to Aria's throat.

* * *

Megatron arrived on the bridge, only to discover multiple dead drones on the entrance. He was rather surprised by how Starscream could retaliate. He smirked, this might be interesting.

"Helios, be my barrier, will you," Megatron said as he prepared his fusion cannon and entered the bridge with caution. Helios nodded as he followed his leader inside.

Starscream was there. And for Helios, it was the first time he set eyes on the Decepticon traitor.

"Megatron. It has come time to settle old scores," 'Starscream' declared.

"Really, Starscream? All on your own?" Megatron was rather amused.

"Actually," the three remaining clones revealed themselves, and the Starscream Fantastic Four all surrounded Megatron and Helios.

"Clones. Well played, Starscream…if you're even here among your underlings," Megatron complimented.

"Underlings? We are of one," one corrected.

"But many," another clone continued.

"Bring me Starscream's head on a stick. And I will reward you as my second-in-command. All of you," Megatron bargained.

"No! You're trying to trick us!" as Starscream's clone, they all knew Megatron's dirty trick.

"Am I?" Megatron asked with a smirk.

"Is he?" one of the clones asked to his teammates.

"Accept my proposal and we all win. Otherwise, you will all merely end up attempting to terminate each other to obtain the spoils. It is in your nature after all," Megatron argued.

"Don't listen to him!" one clone warned.

"Prepare to perish at my hand," another clone sneered.

"OUR HANDS!" yet another clone corrected.

"Yes. Only our combined firepower will assure Megatron's destruction!" the main clone concluded.

"Time's ticking!" another drone pointed out.

Megatron wasn't bothered at all, since he had Helios standing by his side.

Then, they heard buzzing sound from outside. It was rather loud, considering they could hear it very clear from inside the Nemesis.

"Do you hear that?"

"Ignore! Fire on three! One! Two!" they began. "THREE!" and then, they all fired the missiles simultaneously.

In reflex, Helios created a large force field to shield himself and Megatron from all the missiles. Helios winced a little, since the combined firepowers was rather hard to handle, but the half Decepticon defended it pretty well.

"Excellent, Helios," Megatron praised in satisfaction. For that reason alone, he employed the White Decepticon in first place.

"WHAT?!" one clone cried out in shock.

Then, another shock came in. The ship was struck by a powerful force from the outside, eventually shaking the ship interior. All Starscream fantastic four stumbled to the floor as the ship shook violently.

"What was that?!" one clone asked aloud as he recovered from the fall, only to find Megatron on his face with cannon aimed.

"The sound of the tables turning," Megatron answered casually, and blasted the first clone's head. Then, the Decepticon leader proceeded to blast two more. Only one left, and the remaining clone just stood there in fear. The tables indeed turned around.

* * *

Starscream, the original one, was screaming in pain as his body was attacked by unseen force.

"WHAT IS GOING ON UP THERE?!" he cried out.

* * *

Terminating you was so satisfying the first three times," Megatron remarked, as he was about to finish the last clone.

_BOOM_

The last Starscream clone took off running as Megatron was distracted by the explosion.

"Wait...!" Helios was about to give a chase.

"Let him be, Helios. We might have something more important to attend," Megatron ordered as he opened the large monitor to see what was outside. There was a large swarm of Insecticon attacked his ship. Megatron immediately knew who to blame for that. "Airachnid. A busy day for assassins," Megatron mused.

* * *

Optimus and Bumblebee finally finished the very last of the Insecticon.

"Arcee! Aria!" and Optimus was greatly concerned of his teammate's and daughter's safety.

* * *

Megatron and Helios walked to outside, on Nemesis' rooftop. The drones tried to retaliate, but the Insecticons were way, way too many.

"I can't cover the entire ship," Helios reported, as he knew his ability's limitation.

"Very well, then cover only for me," Megatron said as he prepared his cannon, and began to fire at the bugs.

* * *

Arcee was proceeding her way to the underground cave with her blaster ready. She discovered multiple stasis pods, and she realized that she might be in Insecticons' nest. Suddenly, Arcee heard a muffled voice from above. She looked up, and gasped to see Aria was hanging from the ceiling, webbed tightly, with her mouth also being sealed by the webbing.

"Aria!" Arcee cried out, and she dashed forward. Arcee couldn't believe it, Airachnid eventually managed to capture the girl. "Hang on, I'll save you!" Arcee was about to climb the wall. Aria was her top priority, not Airachnid.

Aria thrashed around her bonds, and with her mouth being sealed, she couldn't scream out. Aria shook her head vigorously, trying to warn Arcee about danger lurking close by.

Arcee finally noticed that Aria didn't want her to climb closer. Then finally, Arcee knew why. As she spun around, Airachnid was behind her with blasters aimed. Airachnid began to fire at the blue femme, Arcee quickly leapt away to dodge the fires, and she took cover behind a stasis pod. When she had the chance, Arcee stood up from her cover and shot multiple blasts to Airachnid's direction. Finally, she managed to hit the spider.

Airachnid was laying on the ground, when Arcee approached her with blasters ready.

"When you extinguish my spark, make it hurt. You know I would extend that courtesy to you," Airachnid taunted.

"I'm not like you," Arcee decided that she wouldn't do it.

"Very well," Airachnid took the chance to launch at Arcee.

Arcee jumped to avoid Airachnid's tackle. As Arcee skidded backward, she spotted one empty stasis pod. Getting an idea, she unsheathed her blades. Both of the femmes began to exchange blows. Arcee saw an opening, she jumped forward, and kicked Airachnid to the empty pod. Airachnid accidentally stepped on the pod, and activating it.

"NO!" Airachnid cried out as the stasis pod snapped shut. Eventually, she was frozen inside the pod.

Arcee let out a sigh of relief, it was finally over. She turned to her next job. Arcee deployed her blaster again, aimed it to the thread that hanging Aria over, and shot it precisely. The thread finally snapped, and Aria plummeted down to the ground. Arcee lunged forward and caught the half Autobot before she crashed.

"You alright?" Arcee cut free Aria's webbing with her blades.

"Yeah..." Aria spoke after her mouth was free. Arcee put Aria's hand on her shoulder and helped her standing up. "...You're not going to deliver the killing blow?" Aria asked as she looked over Airachnid's pod.

"No...she isn't worth it..." Arcee shut her optics, and reflected back to the day when Tailgate was murdered. That was her reason to seek revenge. However, it wasn't a reason for her to sink as low as Airachnid or any other Decepticon. "...Sorry to disappoint you, Aria."

"Why say such thing?" much to Arcee's surprise, Aria wrapped her arms around Arcee's neck, and snuggled to her face. "That's the reason why I like you so much, Miss Arcee," Aria stated to her idol. She knew that her idol was strong, both outside and inside.

"Thank you," Arcee couldn't help but blushing in embarrassment, but part of her was glad of her decision. "Come on, let's get outta here. Optimus is probably having spark attack by now," Arcee then helped Aria walking out of the underground cave.

* * *

Megatron was still in middle of exterminating the Insecticon on his ship. There were only him and Helios on the roof, as all the drones were already dead. One Insecticon landed on his behind, transformed, and prepared to strike. However, the bug bot stopped in mid-track.

Pretty soon, all Insecticon landed on the roof, and all of them bowed to Megatron.

"Forgive us, one true lord and master," they chorused.

"What...?" Helios was rather confused by the sudden turnout.

"You see, Helios. This day has certainly seen its share of thwarted intentions," Megatron remarked, slightly amused.

* * *

Bulkhead got out from the vent system and got himself in the power core room. He witnessed as the machine loading every cubes to the core, continuing to replenish the lost energy of the ship.

"One way or another, I'm getting off this boat!" Bulkhead unfolded his wrecking ball. He took a jump to the main engine and...

_SMASH_

* * *

_KABOOOMMM_

More explosions rocked the ship.

"NOW WHAT?!" Megatron roared out, as his ship began to descend.

* * *

Bulkhead made his way to Nemesis' entrance. That was when he bumped into Starscream's clone.

"Out of my way!" Starscream snarled as he transformed and flew out of the Nemesis.

Bulkhead just saw in confusion as the Seeker jet rocketed out of the ship.

* * *

"My liege, our power core have been compromised," one drone reported to the leader.

"Prepare for landing," Megatron instructed.

The ship then landed rather harshly to the ground. The ship skidded on the ground, and stopped when reaching a cliff's edge. As the ship came into stop, Bulkhead raced away from the ship in his wheels.

* * *

Meanwhile, the Autobots brought Airachnid's pod to their base.

"Stasis," Ratchet reported as he examined her, "She deserves worse!"

"I intended worse," Arcee piped in, "More times then you know."

"Arcee, you are stronger for the choice you made," Optimus commented.

"But believe me, this way is far worse than anything, you know," Aria added in. "By the way, are you serious about keeping her inside our base?" she shuddered at the fact that Airachnid, in fact, was about to stay inside the base with them.

Finally, Bulkhead's honk filled the hallway, the sign that the green bot already returned. He transformed as he reached the command center.

"Guys, you aren't gonna believe the day I had...!" Bulkhead began, but then he spotted Airachnid in stasis, then to Ratchet, and Arcee, "You too, huh?"

* * *

The Starscream clone returned to Harbinger where his creator was waiting.

"Lord Starscream, your most loyal servant has returned," the clone reported, "But I regret to inform you that our collective mission has failed." Slowly, he raised his missile to his creator.

"Hmmm…yes, I got that sense. Something to do with the throbbing ache in my side!" Starscream spun around and fired his own missile to the clone. Terrible idea, because he too, could feel the pain.

"You knew I would attempt to terminate you..." the clone rasped out as Starscream stepped on his chest.

"I feel your pain. Really I do," Starscream then delivered the killing blow.

_BANG_

"AAAAAAAAAUUUUUUUGGHHH! SCRAP THAT HURT!"

* * *

Review please, I need it badly so I can improve my skill in the future :3


	18. Flying Mind

_"The art of creation is older than the art of killing"_

_Edward Koch_

* * *

Nemesis was in bad shape after the power core was severed. Because of the damage, all the systems on the ship had stopped working. Therefore, Megatron had to delay the flight hour, until his crew could repair the ship.

"Dreadwing, damage report," Megatron ordered.

"We have suffered critical damage to all major systems, Lord Megatron. It will be some time before we can get the ship airborne," Dreadwing reported.

"Soundwave..." Megatron turned to his surveillance crew.

Soundwave then brought the image of Bulkhead destroying the power core. Helios winced at the image, but unnoticed by Megatron. Helios already thought, that the ship's demise might be his fault at the first place, since the vermillion mech was the one who discovered Bulkhead first.

"So it was an Autobot who crippled my vessel! They would move quickly to exploit any perceived weakness," Megatron pointed out.

"Surely, they're not foolish enough to launch a direct assault, my liege," Knock Out objected.

"Optimus has grown decidedly more ruthless since our last encounter..." Megatron argued. He knew that he had to get the ship airborne ASAP. And, there was indeed one way to do that.

Soon, all of them were in the power core room, with boxed dark energon.

"Lord Megatron, as your physician, I strongly advise against this!" Knock Out protested, "The dark energon's regenerative properties are impressive. But the side effects, there's no telling how it might impact the ship..."

"Dark energon courses through my veins. Infusing the warship will enable me to manipulate the craft as if we are one. And together, we shall crush Optimus Prime and destroy the Autobots!" Megatron vowed.

* * *

"But when the Decepticons suddenly backed off, I got inspired by my proximity to the power core and did what I do best," Bulkhead smashed his fists together as he told his tale back in Nemesis.

"You trashed Megatron's ride like a rock star in a hotel room!" Miko cheered up.

"Bulk, you said you found Helios?" Aria asked.

"Well, actually, he found me. I still couldn't believe it, he just gave me the free pass. If only he didn't, maybe I wouldn't left the ship without being scrapped by Megatron," Bulkhead replied.

"We should hit the 'Cons right now while they're vulnerable!" Arcee suggested as she and Bumblebee stepped forward.

"Megatron's warship may be grounded. But let's not forget that we remain vastly outnumbered. Especially since he has added the Insecticon hive to his ranks," Ratchet reminded everyone.

"Then maybe it's time for me to call in an air strike," Fowler suggested.

"Or for us to consider more extreme measures, Agent Fowler," Optimus got an idea for his own. An idea for completely mass destruction. Optimus and Ratchet then marched to the vault where they stored the Iacon relics.

"The spark extractor...?" Ratchet said in surprise, "Optimus, are you certain you want to travel down this path?"

"While I am deeply reluctant to deploy a weapon of this caliber, especially one forged by Decepticon hands, this may be our only chance to end the war once and for all," Optimus decreed.

* * *

Meanwhile, the Nemesis' power core then began to load the dark energon. Pretty soon, the ship's energon pipes glowed purple. The purple monitors also changed color to crimson red. At the same time, Megatron's eyes also turned purple.

"Yes… I can feel it!" Megatron cheered.

"What the...?!" Helios' spark skipped a beat, and all of the sudden his entire body was shaking. As he looked around the ship, he felt like he was engulfed with dark aura that slowly tortured him.

"You okay, boy?" Knock Out asked as he noticed how shaken the boy was. "Oh that's right, you're White. Dark energon at this scale may be not the best thing for you, huh?"

"...I'll be fine..." Helios said as he tried to calm his beating spark. Even though he still didn't know why, his body severely despised the dark energon aura. And somehow, dark energon itself also projected very bad ire toward the White Decepticon.

* * *

"Optimus! I'm detecting a massive spike at the Decepticon crash site!" reported Ratchet. "It appears to be dark energon!"

"Dark energon?" Aria frowned.

The Autobots knew that it was time. Ratchet opened the GroundBridge for the team.

"Autobots, transform and roll out," Optimus immediately instructed.

Arcee, Bulkhead, Bumblebee immediately transformed to vehicle and rolled out to the portal. Aria popped out her roller blade and raced to the portal too. As always, Optimus always left at the last turn.

"Hold on, Prime!" Fowler called, "If you are going to deploy some sort of super weapon in a final showdown with the 'Cons, it's my job as a representative of planet Earth to bear witness."

* * *

And then, they arrived at time when Nemesis was back airborne.

"Sweet Lady Liberty!" Fowler gaped to the massive Decepticon airship.

Soundwave brought the image of the Autobots to Megatron.

"Optimus, you never disappoint," Megatron smirked.

Nemesis began to deploy its cannons, prepared to strike at the enemies.

"Bumblebee, now," Optimus instructed.

Bumblebee sped toward the Nemesis in his vehicle mode. Soon, the ship started firing at them.

"Aria, stay behind and guard Agent Fowler. Arcee, Bulkhead, draw their fire," Optimus ordered and all of them raced forward.

"Back liner, once in a while," Aria said, as she and the agent took cover behind rocks. Fowler witnessed the event with his binocular.

Bumblebee was dodging every fire, with the Spark Extractor on his passenger seat.

"_Once you launch the spark extractor, be sure to be clear of its radius before it activates," _Optimus instructed.

With that being said, Bumblebee transformed, and launched to catch the spark extractor. He proceeded to dash to the Nemesis on foot. Suddenly, something shaped like satellite dish popped out, and fired a purple beam. Bumblebee got hit by it. He let out pained bleep before falling on his stomach, frozen.

"Bumblebee!" Optimus cried out.

"What is that?!" Aria was shocked to see that.

"MINE!" Arcee dashed forward and took the spark extractor. The blue femme decided to take the role, but she too, was hit by the purple beam and frozen like Bumblebee.

"Miss Arcee!" Aria cried out.

* * *

"I never realized the ship was equipped with a stasis beam," Knock Out said as they observed the damage.

Megatron frowned at the fact. He was commanding the ship for eons and he too, didn't realize the deadly weapon on his vessel?

Behind him, Helios wasn't looked too good. He was attacked by very painful migraine, and the boy was on his knees, clutching his head in discomfort. Dreadwing heard the loud thump, and soon dashed to the boy's side.

"Lord Megatron, something is wrong with Helios," Dreadwing reported, he was rather concerned.

Megatron spun around, and saw what the problem was. However, the Decepticon tyrant quickly deduced that it must be the aura of dark energon affecting the White.

"Dark energon and white energon aren't close buddy," Knock Out noted. "I will conduct an examination on him later."

Couldn't take the pressure anymore, Helios bolted out of the bridge. He just wanted the sensation to get away. However, he was under strict rule of Megatron not to leave the ship without permission. The boy just raced through hallway, wanting to get somewhere out of the dark energon aura.

* * *

After Arcee was down, Bulkhead took the spark extractor. But before he could make any step, the green bot was hit by the beam, and frozen like the other two. Optimus just widened his eyes in shock. But, the stasis beam turned to him. Optimus leapt to dodge the beam, took the spark extractor from Bulkhead's hand, and made a jump. However, as the Prime leapt to the air, the beam finally hit him, freezing him in mid air.

"FATHER!" Aria cried out in horror as Optimus fell straight to the ground like a dead stone.

Nemesis then turned its direction to the two remaining humans on the ground.

"So much for Christmas with your mother in Fiji," Fowler remarked.

Aria transformed her hand into blaster, and preparing her force field. But the strange thing, the ship just...ignored them.

* * *

"The spark extractor!" Megatron noticed the weapon lying on the ground, "Guide us closer so that I may collect what belongs to me and destroy the Autobots!"

* * *

But the ship didn't do that, it just flew away instead, much to the surprise of the two humans on the ground.

"It just...left?" Aria muttered in disbelief. "Whew, that's not like the Lord of Doomsday at all...is it?"

"That matter aside. Ratchet, team's down. Requesting medevac," Fowler spoke into the radio.

* * *

"What?! Where are you going?! I said closer!" Megatron yelled out when the ship just went to opposite direction.

"Lord Megatron, the ship seems to be navigating itself," the drone who was in charge of control, explained.

"Override," Megatron ordered.

The drone just did that, but there was no result from the override.

"The systems are bypassing manual contro-ARGH!" and, the drone was electrocuted by the keyboard, dropped dead with smoking body.

That scene made Megatron and the others widened their eyes in disbelief. What was happening?

"It appears the ship possesses a will of its own!" Knock Out made a theory.

"Impossible!" Megatron was skeptical, "Trace the problem to its source and fix it!"

"**Do not tamper with my systems. This is your only warning,"** at least, Knock Out's theory was proven to be right, as the demonic voice boomed over their ship.

"Warning?!" Megatron repeated in disbelief.

"**My mission assumes priority. Any Cybertronian who interferes will be neutralized.**"

"My own vessel dares to address me in threatening tones?!" Megatron was rather irritated, he didn't like it when somebody tried to boss him around.

"It also seems to be doing a better job of decoding the Project Iacon database then we were," Knock Out said as he noticed the monitor, "It's already deciphered a new set of coordinates." The red medic pointed to one set of coordinates on the screen. Even Soundwave was having hard time of decoding one coordinates.

"And judging by our current course, that is precisely where the ship is headed," Dreadwing observed the course direction on Soundwave's visor.

"As I desire. You see?! This warship is nothing more then an extension of my very will!" Megatron was satisfied a little bit.

"**Your will is nothing. The Iacon artifacts will belong to me,"** but the ship broke Megatron's feeling of victory.

"I am Lord Megatron! I command you to cease operations!" Megatron ordered.

"**You are no longer in command.**"

With that, the ship fired out a purple wave that gave Megatron very nasty processor ache. Knock Out checked over his leader who was on his knees and clutching his head.

"Regain control of this vessel by any means necessary," but the Decepticon leader wasn't to give up.

Soundwave reacted first, and he extended his tentacles to the keyboard. However, the Nemesis meant his words about terminating any Cybertronians who interfered. Soundwave was shocked by electricity, and frozen just like the Autobots.

"All hands! Cut power to the mainframe and disconnect data relays! NOW!" Megatron immediately instructed.

With that being said, all Decepticons were dispatched. Dreadwing was with a group of drones, and they raced through the hallway. The ship then created a purple electric grid that spread out the hallway, eventually freezing any Decepticons in the way, including Dreadwing and the drones. Even Insecticons couldn't deal with it, and just stayed frozen on their feet.

"_HELIOS! WHERE ARE YOU?!" _Megatron desperately tried to find his White Decepticon.

The boy was still in his weakened state, Helios leaned to the wall for support. He faintly heard the comm of his master, but as Helios looked up, he noticed the purple grid coming to his direction. Helios immediately shielded himself with his force field, and the grid did no harm on him.

"What's that...?" Helios asked as he felt something called for him, from the direction of Nemesis' weapon storage. Curious, the boy opened the door and went inside the weapon storage. It was the place the Decepticon stored their weapon, including The Forge of Solus Prime, the relic of the ancients. The forge itself was placed under heavily guarded vault.

Helios made his way to the forge's vault, he knew that whatever called for him came from the forge. But, he didn't notice a stasis beam popped out from his behind.

* * *

Back in Autobot base, Ratchet was examining the frozen Autobots, with the humans watched in worry.

"They're alive. But I've never encountered this form of stasis lock," Ratchet thought aloud.

"The 'Cons are crossing the Atlantic, making a beeline for North America!" Fowler reported.

"Wait, we can track them...?" Jack raised a question.

"Why aren't they clocked like usual?" Raf asked.

"This whole thing isn't making sense. They had me in the crosshairs. But the 'Cons just took off," Fowler recalled.

"They even bailed on that spark extractor thingy!" Miko piped in.

"Now, it really wasn't like Megatron..." Aria concluded.

"If the ship isn't cloaked, maybe the communication relay's open, and..." Jack suggested.

"Yeah, yeah, are you suggesting we just call Megatron and ask him what's happening up there?!" Ratchet asked in disbelief.

But the medic just earned shrug from the four kids. When Ratchet turned to Fowler, he got pretty much same reaction.

"You really think we have any other option right now?" Aria asked. "In my opinion, something just isn't right with the Cons, at least for now."

* * *

Knock Out entered the data room, and found out that there were already two sets of coordinates on the screen, decrypted by the ship. For a ship, it surely worked faster and better than any Cybertronians.

"Lord Megatron, the computer has decrypted another set of coordinates. Perhaps we should permit it to continue..." Knock Out suggested.

But the ship itself didn't in same argument as Knock Out, as the stasis beam fired upon the red medic.

"**I do not require permission.**"

* * *

"Autobot Outpost Omega One to Decepticon warship. Megatron, please respond," Ratchet contacted the ship, but for few seconds he didn't get any respond.

* * *

Because the said Decepticon leader was racing through the hallway, even knocking some bots in his way. He made his way to the power core, and prepared to flush out the dark energon.

"This mutiny ends now...!" Megatron trailed off. But he didn't notice a stasis blast from behind.

_ZAP_

* * *

"Taking a while to answer a call, really, it isn't like Megatron..." Aria muttered as the silence continued.

"Aria, you speak like you know Megatron all around..." Jack mused.

"Megatron!" Ratchet called once again.

"_**Megatron has been relieved of his command,"** _but the reply came from someone they all less expected. Even Ratchet never heard such voice.

"Who is this?" Ratchet asked back.

"_**Who is this?!**_"

"Have you taken control of the Decepticon vessel?" the Autobot CMO asked further.

"_**I am the vessel. Any Cybertronian who interferes with my mission will be neutralized.**_"

Then, they were sent images of the entire Decepticons being frozen. As the ship said, neutralized.

"What mission?" Ratchet inquired.

"_**Priority one, decode Iacon Database and recover Decepticon technology.**_"

"For what purpose?"

But the ship just cut off the link.

"It hung up...?! Rude!" Miko remarked.

"Rude?! There's a giant spaceship flying around collecting Decepticon weapons of mass destruction!" Fowler retorted.

"A giant spaceship filled with neutralized Decepticons," Jack pointed out.

"Point?" Fowler asked.

"This could be our only chance to slip aboard and download the Iacon database," Jack explained his idea.

"So Optimus can decode it!" Raf added.

"As expected from our tactician!" Aria slapped Jack's back playfully.

"Ingenious. I'll infiltrate the Decepticon warship," Ratchet decided.

"Not ingenious!" Jack immediately objected.

"Yeah, you saw what it did to the Cons, maybe Helios is neutralized as well," Aria added.

"And probably Megatron too," Raf said.

"And Team Prime!" Miko reminded them.

"But that tub had me and Aria dead to right, and I'm still breathing!" Fowler reminded them.

"The ship may be blind to humans," Jack realized.

"And half Autobot, it seems. I'm the only one remaining with weapon. I will infiltrate the ship," Aria pointed to herself.

"Aria, it's not very safe for a half metal to go all by herself, you will need one without metal," Fowler suggested.

"Very well, Agent Fowler and Aria. But at the first sight of trouble, I am bridging you right back here. Aria, you are not transforming to your Cybertronian body when inside that sentient ship," Ratchet then grabbed a flash drive, "In order to download the database, you will need a compatible transfer drive."

"A what?" Fowler asked in confusion as he received the drive.

"Like USB," Aria explained.

"You'll also need tech support," Raf said.

"And backup," Miko added.

* * *

With that, the five humans entered the warship with the bridge. They were surrounded by frozen drones all around.

"Fowler to base, we're in," the agent reported back.

"_Good. Their data core should be accessible from any console._"

Seconds later, Aria soon felt like suffocating. It was pretty much the same feeling she received when inside Unicron's body. The girl felt like she was cut short of air, thankfully she didn't need oxygen like normal humans.

"Aria, what's wrong?" Miko then noticed the ponytail was panting hard.

"Yeah...I'm fine..." Aria tried to focus on the task, even though her head was rather fuzzy.

They then strolled the hallway, until they stumbled upon the data room, with the frozen Knock Out in it.

"Here's one..." Raf pointed out to the computer in front of Knock Out.

Miko ran to the red medic, then pounded on his leg. "Doc Knock is knocked out!" she smirked.

"Look! The ship's decoded two sets of Iacon coordinates!" Raf pointed out. They all looked to the screen.

"Now three," Aria remarked as another set popped and went inside the list.

"Let's rip and run!" Raf urged. Aria, Fowler and the glass boy then climbed to the keyboard using Knock Out as leverage.

"There's the port," Aria pointed out to the hole next to the keyboard. Fowler plugged the drive into it, and the drive began to download the database.

Jack then noticed the map on higher screen.

"Uh…why is the warship heading for Manhattan?" Jack asked, he brought the attention of the others.

"Because that's where the first set of coordinates are located," Raf answered.

* * *

"_What would a relic from Cybertron be doing in the Big Apple?_" Fowler asked to the comm.

"The Iacon Relics landed on Earth eons ago, Agent Fowler. Long before the city was built atop it," Ratchet answered.

* * *

"Which means if the ship wants this one, maybe have to move some buildings out of the way..." Jack pointed out, and all of them knew that there was even more serious trouble. Soon, Jack and Miko joined the other three on the top of keyboard.

"Our mission just got complicated. How do we deter this ship?" Fowler immediately answered. Database was taken care of, Manhattan wasn't.

"_I would advise disabling the navigation module. Call up the main navigation menu._"

"There!" Raf pointed as he found it.

"Step aside, son," Fowler held the boy back, and stepped to the button. He crouched down and tried to press it, but got zapped as the result.

"Agent Fowler!" Jack cried out.

Aria lunged forward to catch the agent, but eventually both of them plummeted to the floor.

"Agent Fowler, hello? Can you hear me?" Aria was alright, but Fowler wasn't. And the half Autobot was rather concerned.

"**System access detected. Interference will not be tolerated.**"

"There!" Raf pointed to a camera popped out from the ceiling.

"**Reveal yourself!**" the camera then scanned around the room. It did notice Knock Out, but not the kids.

"It doesn't see us!" Miko cheered.

"_Not yet. The ship must not be scanning for carbon life forms. However, once it expands its search parameters…_"

"Then I'd better blind it now!" Aria said as she transformed her right hand to blaster. But that action made the scanner eventually detected her. A stasis blaster popped out next to the camera, and fired the beam to the girl. "WHOA!" Aria immediately shielded herself with force field.

"I thought Aria was invisible as well?!" Miko cried out.

"_Yes, but when her Cybertronian body was covered with the carbon-based physical form. Aria, did I not mention about not transforming? That goes same with sticking out any of your metallic part from your human body."_

"Oh great, I'm grounded from using my weapon?!" Aria face palmed herself.

"We're toast," Raf surmised.

"_I'm bridging you back!_"

"No! There are millions of lives at stake in New York. And we four are currently the only ones able to do anything about it!" Jack pointed out.

"Not to mention, I have to make sure that Helios is okay!" Aria added. "I owe him for saving my life last time!"

* * *

"You're out of your element, Jack. These readings, the ship's rapid recovery all point to the fact that Megatron employed dark energon to repair it," Ratchet pointed out.

* * *

"So that's why I feel so heavy inside here!" Aria proclaimed, as everything just made sense. "It's like I'm inside Unicron's body all over again..."

"We're inside Unicron?!" Miko asked in disbelief.

"Not really, although you can say this is Unicron 2.0. This ship can talk and is fueled by dark energon after all..." Aria said.

"Hold on, if you're saying that the ship is fuelled with dark energon..." Jack asked as he and the other two jumped down of the keyboard, "We can dump it, right?"

"_Hmm, you need to reverse the ship's energon infuser. F__ollow the main overhead conduits. They'll lead you to the power core." _

"Let's get this over with, and get out of this suffocating place..." Aria said as they made their run. The four kids then raced their way to the power core. Being weakened by the dark energon aura, Aria was rather slow at running compared to the three others. But as they passed the hallway, something stopped Aria in mid track.

"Aria, hurry up!" Jack called as he noticed the hold up.

"...Yeah!" Aria followed her friends, although she was sure that something just called her. However, she put it aside for later.

Not too soon, they arrived at the power core. They walked through the boxed energon, then gasped to find Megatron frozen in front of the infuser.

"Megatron had the same idea," Jack pointed out.

"Then we're on the right track," Raf decreed.

"_The energon ejection valve can only be operated manually_," Ratchet informed again.

"MANUALLY?!" they exclaimed. The said ejection valve was locked in Megatron's grip.

"Then, I'm on it..." Aria said as she stepped forward.

"Wait Aria, you heard Ratchet, do not stick out your metallic arm, or the ship will locate us," Jack held her back.

"Then...should we do it this way?" Aria sighed in defeat.

"You're not gonna be alone. Give me a boost," with the help of Raf and Miko, Jack and Aria proceeded to climb Megatron's body to reach the valve. Both of the teens tried to push the valve in Megatron's grip. However, the Decepticon tyrant was too gigantic and therefore...heavy.

"I think you should cut off some of your dark energon consumption, fatty!" Aria said it to the frozen Megatron.

"**I am infested with alien life forms!**"

Eventually, the scanner picked up their presence.

"Uh oh...we just got made," Miko said nervously.

Suddenly, a metal clamp flew toward them. Miko and Raf just barely avoided from being caught, and both of them made their run between the energon cubes. Jack and Aria saw what happened, and scaled down again to help. It would be a matter of time before the claw managed to get the two kids.

"**All parasites will be eradicated.**"

"HEY! OVER HERE!" Jack and Aria called.

"ARIA! JACK NO!" Raf cried.

"RUN FOR IT!" Miko urged.

As the claw made its way to them, Aria dashed forward and kicked the claw right on its orb, eventually rendering it useless.

"Too slow!" Jack commented, before another claw appeared right before his eyes. Jack and Aria looked to Megatron who was behind them, the claw before them, and then to each other. They nodded as they thought of the same idea. The claw then launched forward, but the two kids just leapt between it.

Eventually, the claw struck straight to Megatron, the body of the Decepticon leader began to move. As Megatron fell to the ground, his hand lowered the valve at the same time. Soon, the dark energon was being flushed out of the system.

"**Critical power drain. I am… in… command… Prepare to be… neutralized…**"

Then, the ship lost its sentience. Everything came back to normal, including Megatron who was released from his stasis.

"Run!" Jack urged.

* * *

Back at Autobot base, Optimus and the others also recovered from the stasis lock, much to Ratchet's relief.

"Thank the AllSpark," Ratchet sighed in relief.

_"RATCHET!"_

* * *

"Fire up the GroundBridge!" Jack immediately requested as they ran back to the previous place.

Aria passed down the place, and she got the sensation again. Now that the major problem had been taken care of, Aria knew it was her chance to check over. Immediately, she separated herself and ran to opposite hallway.

"Aria wait! Where are you going?!" Raf called out.

"You guys go ahead! I'll catch up soon!" Aria shouted back as she disappeared from sight.

* * *

Aria didn't know where she was going, she just followed the source of the strange calling. Aria stumbled upon a room, and as she went inside, she recognized it as the weapon storage. Now that the ship wouldn't hunt a Cybertronian anymore, Aria transformed to her Autobot mode, and examined the storage.

"Helios!" Aria spotted the boy in the middle of the room. He was in stasis lock.

Then, she turned her attention to the vault right at Helios' side. "The Forge of Solus Prime?" Aria knew the item inside, and the forge was emitting white electricity. Immediately, Aria knew it, the forge just called her. Not the forge, but something that was inside it.

"Come out," Aria commanded.

Immediately, something flew out of the forge. It was a jewel with four sets of wings, a Heart of Wisdom.

* * *

Meanwhile, the three kids arrived at the place where they downloaded the database.

"On your feet, soldier!" Miko helped the barely conscious Fowler to stand up.

"...And beavers and ducks and walrus and Grandma...!" Fowler sang, and with loud thud, he fell to the floor again.

"That's all that's been downloaded?!" Jack said when he saw that the download progress wasn't over yet. There were already five sets of coordinates though.

"The Iacon vault must be huge," Raf reasoned.

Second later, a GroundBridge portal opened.

"Su-weet!" Miko cheered, with the help of Raf, they coaxed Fowler on his knees, "Come on! Here's our ride!"

"Jack?" Raf asked as Jack wasn't coming with them.

"Get Fowler outta here," Jack requested. As the three went back to base, Jack was still on his mission. "Some is better than nothing. I'm not leaving without that drive."

* * *

The Heart of Wisdom glowed brightly, and flew to Aria's palm.

"It must be you who called me," Aria spoke to the jewel.

"It also called me before," much to the girl's shock, Helios already stood behind her. "I thought I was crazy. If only I discovered it much sooner..."

Aria didn't need to respond to that, because she and he were in sync as the successors of the Saint. "It won't make any difference, Helios. You know that only you and me who can detect its presence and summon it."

"I know," then Helios deployed his cannon. "I think you also know that I have right over that jewel."

"Yeah, I understand. You keep it," Aria instructed the Heart to go to Helios' side. "You already saved me once. With this, I think we can be even. Now, only if you excuse me," Aria took out her wheel, and exited the weapon room, leaving Helios behind.

Helios didn't make attempt to chase the girl, as he already got what he wanted. The boy eyed the Heart, as it swirled around his arms. Somehow, Helios felt like the jewel could understand him.

* * *

Jack climbed back to the keyboard, and tried to pull out the drive. But, Knock Out was already functional, and immediately Jack was cornered.

"Say ahh..." Knock Out deployed his drill and pointed it to the boy.

"I'm here to offer second opinion!" Ratchet was there, and he delivered a punch to the Decepticon medic. "Jack, where's Aria?!"

"I'm here!" Aria just got into the scene, rolling hot.

"Good!" Ratchet then picked up Jack, then unplugged the drive. The Autobot team made their escape. The portal closed up in nick of time, before Megatron showed up.

"Lord Megatron, I…," Knock Out struggled to stand up.

"You let them escape...with vital intelligence!" Megatron roared as he noticed the four decrypted coordinates.

* * *

"Can you repeat that again?" Ratchet asked to Aria.

"I said, I just followed the track from the Heart of Wisdom," Aria repeated her explanation.

"Heart of Wisdom? Since when did you take that from boss bot's chest?" Bulkhead asked in disbelief.

"I highly doubt that, Bulkhead. The Heart of mine is still here," Optimus briefly touched his chassis.

"The Heart I tracked on isn't belonged to my father..." Aria went on.

"Wow, wow! I thought, only Optimus has the jewel?" Miko cut in.

"Let me finish it, Miko. Heart of Wisdom is owned not only by my father, but also all Primes. And the one in Decepticon warship, belonged to Solus Prime," the ponytail explained further.

"Solus Prime?!" Optimus asked in disbelief.

"Yeah, her Heart was stashed in the forge in inactive state, waiting for to be called out by either me or Helios, we are the currently living Whites," Aria said.

"Why would Solus Prime stuff the jewel to the forge?" Arcee asked next.

"Beats me, as the Heart is now in Helios' hands..." Aria trailed off.

"WHAT?!" Ratchet gasped. "You gave out such majestic thing to the Decepticons?!"

"Ouch, keep it down Ratch," Aria winced as Ratchet's voice buzzed over her ears. "It's not like I was giving it out. The Heart is our rights, I only entrusted Helios to keep it. Don't worry, we're the only ones who have access to it. That, if somebody left embedded message in."

* * *

On board Nemesis, Helios still had the Heart hovering in front of his eyes, inside his quarter.

"What is it that you're trying to tell me?" Helios asked. Suddenly, the jewel shone brightly, formed a face out of the light. "Solus Prime, huh...?" the boy commented dryly.

_The power of the creation that was entrusted to me, I bestowed it upon this Heart_

_For the Saint who gave us the shield, this is the greatest gratitude of my soul_

_Forever and ever, I would be indebted to Primus and you..._

"Really...?" Helios frowned upon the message. "Well, perhaps I will keep it and see if it has any use for me later," Helios clicked open his chassis, and with that, the Heart was stored back inside his spark.

* * *

"The download of the Iacon database may have been incomplete. But we now possess five sets of coordinates decoded by the ship," Ratchet reported.

"Megatron also has it too," Aria pointed out.

"Then we must act quickly. Megatron will not hesitate to obtain the potential doomsday devices which lie at the site of each," Optimus stated.

And true to the last Prime's words, the Nemesis already made his way to New York, the place where one of the Decepticon relics slumbered.

* * *

Review please :3


	19. Tunnel Vision

_"Put your heart, mind, and soul into your smallest act. This is the secret of success."_

_Swami Sivananda_

* * *

"If we are to have any hope of recovering the Iacon relics before the Decepticons do, we must divide our resources," Optimus announced.

"But, Optimus! When it comes to numbers, we're already at a great disadvantage!" Ratchet objected.

"Under the circumstances, swiftness of action is paramount. This is one race that we absolutely cannot afford to lose," Optimus continued.

"Early bird gets the worm," Aria muttered.

* * *

Megatron too, had the same idea as Optimus.

"Dispatching multiple squadrons will allow us to pursue all five relics simultaneously," Megatron decreed.

"Lord Megatron, I've assembled the mining detail you've requested for the first set of coordinates. Breakdown and I enjoyed previous success in retrieving Iacon relics. In memory of my fallen friend, I intend to do the same again," Knock Out offered as he entered the room with a troop.

"This is a mission. Not one of your racing excursions. Stop preening! Move quickly and operate with a surgeon's skill! Do you understand me, Knock Out?!" Megatron snapped.

"Ye...yeah...explicitly, Lord Megatron," Knock Out stuttered nervously.

"Now, since the unfortunate losses of Breakdown left you rather vulnerable, you will require appropriate support," Megatron pointed out.

The red medic then heard someone approaching, as he turned around it was an Insecticon. Knock Out began to regret of offering himself for the mission.

"How very repellant..." Knock Out muttered nervously.

* * *

"Here's a twist. It would appear that the Decepticons have retreated from Manhattan," Ratchet observed.

"They just...up and left?" Arcee asked in disbelief.

"It is more likely that Megatron has already set course for the second set of coordinates, having dispatched a unit to this relic's underground location," Optimus stated.

"Without blasting up a city block to get to it?!" Arcee said in disbelief.

"They used subways tunnels," Jack spoke up, "New York has a whole network of them running beneath the city."

"Since the human population no longer seems to be directly threatened, maintaining our disguise will be necessary," Optimus stated, "Arcee, Bumblebee, you are the best choice for navigating such a densely populated area."

"Optimus, New York has more then eight million people. The odds of being spotted by at least one of them are pretty high. Even if they are heading underground," Jack spoke again.

"Where are you going with this?" Arcee asked.

"You're gonna need a face man," Jack replied, but got Optimus' confused look, "Well, someone who can speak on their behalf. A human who can run interference if their cover gets blown."

"Well, I've actually been in subway stations," Miko pointed out as she stepped forward, "I grew up in a major metropolis. Unlike Mr. 'I've-Never-Been-Outside-Jasper-Nevada'."

"I have been to Cybertron," Jack reminded her.

"Cybertron doesn't have subways!" Miko objected, "Does it?"

"Agent Fowler's field experience makes him our best candidate," Optimus reminded everyone.

"Bananafish!" Fowler mumbled from his bed, still delirious.

"Now, this is not the right time..." Aria commented dryly.

"If he weren't recovering from his encounter with the Decepticon warship," Ratchet added.

"Which we survived without incident," Miko boasted proudly.

"Very well. Miko and Jack will accompany Arcee and Bumblebee," Optimus decided.

"YES!" Miko cheered up.

"Initiate transport. Triangulate coordinates of the other four relics," Optimus instructed.

* * *

After that, the team dispatched to New York. Miko was riding Bumblebee when Jack was with Arcee. They exited the GroundBridge from an empty alley, and drove to the heart of the city. Jack looked around to see pristine and tall buildings everywhere.

"Whoa..." Jack gasped out.

"Of course it's no Cybertron," Miko remarked.

"Alright, face. How do we get underground?" Arcee asked.

"Well, you can't just jump the turnstiles and hope no one notices..." Jack stated dryly.

_HONK! HONK!_

"Check it out! Construction! Effective life in the big city!" Miko pointed to the subway tunnel.

* * *

It didn't take long for them to get into the tunnel. Both of the Autobots were in their bipedal mode and carefully strolling on the tunnel. Bumblebee was about to take another step when...

"Bumblebee don't move!" Jack immediately warned.

_Why? _Bumblebee asked as he had his leg hanging.

"The third rail, it carries electricity to power the subway trains," Jack explained.

"One touch and zap! You're fried," Miko piped in.

Bumblebee then did some dance around to avoid stepping on the third rail.

"You must have learned about that on TV or something," Miko shrugged to Jack before moving on.

* * *

But the Decepticons were already in the exact location of the relic, and in middle way of digging it up. They were free to use the noisy drilling equipment, as the place was human-free.

"Could we please pick up the pace?! The humidity down here is threatening to erode my undercarriage!" Knock Out noted. Then as he turned around, the Insection just buzzed at him. "Must you hover?!"

* * *

"We getting any closer?" Jack asked.

"Triangulating the coordinates is one thing. But figuring out how to reach them is another," Arcee answered.

Then they picked up the familiar sound of drilling equipment.

"Drilling!" Arcee noted. And they traced the sound coming from some kind of vent.

"It's coming from this way!" Miko then ran through the vent, leaving her friends behind.

"Miko!" Jack pursued the girl, and caught up with her in the end of the vent. "Miko, what is your...!"

"Hold it right there!" then someone flashed a light to the two kids.

"Oh scrap," both kids cursed.

They turned around and saw a man standing in front of a sweeper train with the orange vest and yellow helmet. He held a megaphone on his hand.

"What are you kids doing down here?" he asked.

"We're…on a field trip," Miko immediately made a cover story, "With our school! But we got lost!"

"Oh really?" the man said dryly.

"We told him we should stay with our group! But Leonard here insisted we search for fossils!" Miko went on.

"...My bad..." although reluctant, Jack decided to follow through.

"I wanna go home. Can you help us, Mr…?" Miko trailed off.

"Vogel," Vogel introduced himself, "But you can call me Vogel. So…you ever ride a sweeper train?"

Having no choice, Jack and Miko just followed Vogel to his train. As they turned around, Bumblebee and Arcee peeked from the vent.

"Face," Jack reassured the Autobots to leave them for time being. And so, both kids travelled through the tunnel with Vogel's sweeper train.

"And this section was added in the '30s as part of a public works project," Vogel was explaining to the three teenagers.

"Fascinating," Miko yawned.

"These old tunnels have a dark side too. Strange creatures have been said to lurk down here. Giant snakes, albino alligators, even mole men," Vogel smirked.

"But they are just people who live down here because they have no place else to go, right?" Jack guessed.

"That's what the media wants you to believe. But I say they're from outer space," Vogel objected, causing Jack and Miko to look at each other in confusion, "I'm telling you. Area 51 has got nothing on this place. The aliens are down here building up their army. Plotting to use us humans as slave labor..."

Unbeknownst to Vogel, Miko already snuck to the back of the train, and motioned Jack to do the same. Reluctantly, Jack tiptoed away from the man who still went on with his story, completely oblivious. And so, both teens jumped off from the back of the train.

"Aliens...haha! If only he knew," Miko laughed.

* * *

"I'm picking up a locator beacon. The 'Cons have unearthed the relic," Arcee said as they advanced further.

The sound of the drilling indicated that both bots were very close. They deployed their weapons, and peeked from behind the wall. There, they saw the Cons, with Knock Out. And they already set their eyes on the Cybertronian jar.

"Well? Let me see it already!" Knock Out requested impatiently as he shoved the Insecticon out of the way.

"Lock and load," Arcee muttered.

But little did they know, one Insecticon managed to crawl all his way on the ceiling without being noticed. But as he hissed aloud, both Autobots finally noticed it. As the bug launched forward, Bumblebee and Arcee leapt back to dodge him, and they started to open fire. Immediately, Knock Out exited the dug up tunnel, and saw the problem.

"Attack already!" Knock Out snapped impatiently.

"I'll get the relic!" Arcee left Bumblebee taking care of the Insecticon, and went after Knock Out. She pounced three more drones, and decapitating the last one. Knock Out managed to attack her from behind with his saw.

"You have lovely features, perfect for a little painful procedure I call the Nip and Tuck!" Knock Out then went to some shop and chop.

Arcee just dodged it, and kicked Knock Out away. "Dodge and kick." Wasting no time, Arcee ran to the jar. She tried to lift it, but it was rather heavy. Before long, Knock Out shocked her with his energon prod, knocking the blue femme unconscious.

"Shock and drop," Knock Out muttered.

Meanwhile, Bumblebee was also having hard time with the Insecticon. The bug just knocked the yellow scout square.

* * *

Jack and Miko were still walking, trying to find the Autobots. But it seemed that none of them knew where they were.

"This way!" Miko just randomly pointed to one direction.

"How do you know?!" Jack called and grabbed Miko's shoulder, "Miko! Let's think this through!"

"Why? 'Cause you think I don't know what I'm doing?!" Miko snapped, "I'm Jack! Optimus picked me to go to Cybertron! I must know everything!"

"OK, Miko. Seriously? If that's what's bugging you, how come you never said anything before?!" Jack finally asked.

"I've been holding it in," Miko shrugged.

"Since when do you hold anything in? Look. It's not like you don't contribute to anything. Just yesterday, you helped take down a massive Decepticon warship. And we're not in some kind of competition..."

But Jack was cut short by Vogel's appearance, again.

"Lost, huh?"

"Oh no," Jack and Miko muttered.

"You three are gonna have to explain yourselves to the New York Transit Authority!" Vogel decreed as he caught up with them.

"I think we should tell him the truth," Miko suggested.

"Right. The truth is…we lost our dog," Jack lied.

"The real truth," Miko corrected. "We are trying to prevent aliens from digging up an ancient relic from another planet. They're gonna use it to destroy this world."

"I swore I heard something weird and high-pitched earlier today!" Vogel exclaimed, "Something that wasn't the crew drilling over on track five!"

* * *

The Insecticon dragged the unconscious Bumblebee and tossed him beside the knocked down Arcee. Knock Out already had the jar on his hand.

"Now, shall we see precisely what you are and what you do?" Knock Out asked as he removed the lid and retrieved the device, "And what better way to learn your power then to conduct an onsite experiment?"

But they didn't notice the sweeper train coming, with Jack, Miko, and Vogel inside.

"Mole men!" Vogel gasped out, "Metal ones!"

"Actually, Decepticons," Miko corrected.

"And they have Arcee and Bumblebee!" Jack cried.

"Vogel, can this thing go up another gear?!" Miko asked.

"Abso-fricking-lutely!" Vogel answered eagerly as he switched gears and sped up the train.

Knock Out gasped as the train rocketing toward their direction. The Insecticon leapt away, but Knock Out got hit by it. The red medic was pancaked between the train and the wall, and skidded all way before he released it. His chest was badly scratched.

"HEY! WATCH THE FINISH!" Knock Out yelled out.

The Insecticon then fired to the runaway train. But as he turned around, Bumblebee and Arcee were already on their feet with weapons ready. Immediately, the two Autobots engaged the Cons.

"Hate to run! But I just missed my train!" Knock Out smirked as he drove off with the relic.

"Follow the relic! I'll grab Jack and Miko!" Arcee immediately instructed.

Bumblebee transformed to car and chased after Knock Out. Arcee threw some more shots to the bug bot, before transforming to bike and raced to catch the train.

* * *

"Not good!" Vogel exclaimed as they met another problem, "Break line must have been torched!"

"We can't stop?!" Jack asked in disbelief.

"No big deal. These tracks go around for miles. Right, Vogel?" Miko asked nervously.

"Not this one!" Vogel knew and pointed to the blockade at the end of the rail.

"This track dead ends?! As in crash and burn?!" Jack surmised nervously.

"I'm really starting to hate trains!" Miko screamed out.

Not for long, Arcee managed to catch up with the train. She transformed, and leapt to the back of the train. Jack and Miko immediately felt the shake, and relieved to see Arcee there.

"What was that?!" Vogel spotted Arcee, and grabbed a fire axe, "WELCOME TO EARTH!"

"Vogel, no!" Jack yelled.

"She's one of the good guys!" Miko cried.

"Arcee, the breaks are shot!" Jack told Arcee.

"Is there any kind of emergency override?" Arcee asked.

"No, ma'am. But there is a switch track control up ahead if you could just adjust the pull rod," Vogel answered, causing Arcee to look at him in confusion, "You'll know it when you see it! It'll switch us to another line!"

Arcee just nodded, transformed again to motorcycle and raced off.

"Did she just turn into a motorcycle?" Vogel gasped in amazement.

They heard a buzzing, and noticing an Insecticon hot on their tail.

"And that would be…?" Vogel trailed off.

"Trouble," Jack answered nervously.

* * *

"Well, well…look who got his treads back," meanwhile, Knock Out and Bumblebee were in middle of dog and cat chasing. Knock Out immediately took a sharp turn, followed by Bumblebee.

* * *

Arcee reached the switch, transformed to her bipedal mode, and tried to pull it. However, it was stuck real hard. Arcee continued to pull, but eventually, she snapped the handle off.

"Scrap!" Arcee cursed.

"Uh-oh!" Vogel cringed.

Immediately Arcee jumped on the rail and trying to change the course manually. She gave it few kicks, until the rail finally switched, eventually sparing the train from crashing to dead end.

"Yes!" Jack yelled.

"Alright!" Vogel sighed in relief.

"Su-weet!" Miko cheered.

Arcee also breathed in relief, but it was short-lived as the Insecticon finally was on her face. Arcee jumped off to avoid the bug's tackle, and stared at the third rail beneath her feet. Immediately, she got an idea.

"Come to mama," Arcee whispered.

The Insecticon crawled very carefully not to touch the third rail. Arcee deployed her blaster, and started to fire. She dodged all the bug's attack, and shot some more. Eventually, she managed to make the Insecticon fell on top of the third rail, and being zapped off.

"Shock and drop," the blue femme muttered.

* * *

Bumblebee managed to make Knock Out flipped out of the track after several tries. The red sport car then tumbled on the pavement, and the relic was thrown out as the result. Bumblebee immediately transformed and went after it. Knock Out wouldn't let him, and there was pushing showdown between the two.

* * *

"We are in the clear," Miko sighed in relief.

"We still need a way to stop. Besides slamming into a wall, I mean," Vogel pointed out.

Bumblebee and Knock Out still pushed each other for the relic.

"Give me that!" Knock Out snarled.

After some more bumping, the relic activated, and glowed in blue. It hovered, and strapped right to Bumblebee's right hand. The yellow scout stared at it in confusion. And oblivious to him, the sweeper train was already on his back.

"WATCH OUT!" Jack called.

"BUMBLEBEE!" Miko cried.

Bumblebee spun around, and tried to defend himself from crushing. Instead of crushing, he just went through the train, and unharmed. But the thing couldn't be said for Knock Out, as once again he got grind by the train. Thanks to him, the unstoppable train finally stopped. Miko and Jack jumped out to check out Bumblebee.

"Dude!" Miko cheered.

"How did you not get mashed?" Jack asked. Immediately, Arcee came by, and checked on the device.

"Phase shifter. Handy when you need to pass through solid objects or vice versa," Arcee explained and she showed some example.

Knock Out gathered himself together, but horrified to see his scratched reflection on the glass. Even junkyard car would look much better than his battered self.

"No!" Knock Out gasped, "NO! You scratch my face! I scratch yours!"

But he was practically outnumbered, as Arcee and Bumblebee pulled out their weapons. Knowing his situation, Knock Out transformed and fled. But, one of his tires chose to remain behind.

"He knows. Do we have to take him with us?" Jack asked Arcee and Bumblebee, referring to Vogel.

"To the mothership?!" Vogel asked excitedly.

"Actually, I have other idea," Miko grinned.

* * *

"That's right, soldier!" Fowler yelled to the monitor, "Dump that rock and come on home!"

Then, the agent's phone rang.

"Fowler," Fowler answered, "Miko, what is it?! What in the Sam hill?! I'm in the middle of a crisis here! And you want me to…ugh…put him on the line."

* * *

Then, Miko handed over her cellphone to Vogel.

"_Mr. Vogel, this is Agent William Fowler of the United States Government. You are hereby deputized as an honorary agent for the Department of...uhh…Interstellar Relations._"

"Thank you, sir," Vogel replied back, "So…you folks will be in touch?"

"But until then, we need to maintain complete radio silence," Arcee said to Vogel.

"It's been an honor," Vogel then saluted.

Arcee and the confused Bumblebee gave salute as well. And then, they took their leave.

"One relic down, four to go," Arcee decreed. "Let's hope the others are having similar results."

The group then left. Vogel once again was amazed by how robots could turn into vehicles.

"Robots who turn into vehicles," Vogel mused, then looked at his sweeper train, "Hmmm..."

* * *

Review please, please, please :3


	20. Triangulation

_"A team is where a boy can prove his courage on his own. A gang is where a coward goes to hide"_

_Mickey Mantle_

* * *

"The coordinates indicate that the second of these five Iacon relics lies at the very bottom of this world," Megatron observed the remaining coordinates after Knock Out was dispatched.

"I will journey to the ends of this or any other world to serve your will, Lord Megatron," Dreadwing vowed.

"Then return with my prize, Dreadwing. And prove that you are more worthy of being my second-in-command then those who have preceded you," Megatron ordered immediately.

* * *

"Ener-stat, cross-clamp, laser scalpel, durabyllium drill, and, one slightly damaged but operational T-Cog, courtesy of my traitorous clone," Starscream was doing his self surgery preparation. He then took the drill, "Everything I require to make myself whole. A simple, painless procedure..." then he lied on the metal berth. Starscream turned the drill, and was about to open himself. But well, who really wanted to do such procedure to one's own body? "Nothing to it, really...provided one possesses the nerve..."

Starscream was clearly nervous as he inched the drill closer to his chest. And then, an alarm stopped him in mid track.

"Five detachments of Decepticons GroundBridging to five different coordinates at the exact same time?" Starscream was rather surprised. If Megatron dispatched a large number of soldiers, it meant there was something interesting, "Procedure delayed."

* * *

"Be on your guard, Bulkhead!" Optimus advised Bulkhead as the green bot departed through the GroundBridge portal, "Rafael, lock on to the remaining coordinates. I will embark for the Antarctic."

Without saying any word, Rafael worked on his laptop and opened the portal for the other two coordinates. Arcee, Bumblebee, and Bulkhead were already on their way, the remaining ones were Optimus, Aria, and Ratchet. Optimus would go for the second, Ratchet would be the third, and Aria was the last one.

"Cold place again father? No kidding," Aria muttered.

"As for you, old friend, I would prefer that you have company on your mission," Optimus said to Ratchet.

"There's no one left to join me, Optimus!" Ratchet immediately objected, "Even if Agent Fowler were alert…"

"Ohjenenoy..." Fowler was still delirious.

"He's human," Ratchet finished.

"Ratch..." Aria was rather offended.

"Human with no blaster attached, I know the difference alright," Ratchet immediately added.

"I was considering the only remaining Autobot alternative on this planet," Optimus stated.

Ratchet then got the point, "You can't be serious! Wheeljack is insubordinate! A ruffian! Besides, he's Bulkhead partner!"

"Your expertise is scientific and Wheeljack is a highly capable warrior," Optimus reasoned. "You would be wise to welcome the temporary alliance."

"Who knows, maybe forever alliance!" Aria giggled.

"NEVER!" Ratchet roared.

* * *

"Ah…a remote control for the GroundBridge. I love Decepticon scientists," Starscream smirked.

Starscream decided to follow one of the Decepticons' drop point, which happened to be Antarctic. And since he no longer had vehicle mode, he decided to use a hover scooter stored in the Harbinger. It didn't travel any faster than normal Earth motorcycle though.

"Brrr...I despise this planet! If it isn't a scorching desert, it is a frigid wasteland!" Starscream shivered and groaned at the same time, "Now where are the Decepticon berthing?"

Turned out, Starscream had to watch his top rather than his front, since the said Decepticon drones were flying in the mid air. Two drones spotted Starscream immediately. The protocol when finding Starscream; take him down. And so, the two drones flew around and shot at the former Decepticon. Starscream tried to escape, but the two drones still pursued him. And things weren't getting better as three more planes cornered him from the other side.

"FASTER! YOU PATHETIC EXCUSE OF TRANSPORTATION!" Starscream yelled out in desperation. Turned out, it backfired horribly as the scooter tumbled down on the ice, and the driver was flipped over. As Starscream began to gather himself up, the Decepticons drones surrounded him. "Decepticons! Do you not realize you just shot down your ship's commander?!"

As the jet turned around, Dreadwing was landing behind him.

"You command no one, deserter," Dreadwing stated.

"Skyquake?!" Starscream gasped in shock, "You're…"

"You mistake me for my brother who is one with the AllSpark, as you are without doubt aware, former Commander Starscream," Dreadwing hissed, making Starscream quivered in fear, "Were it up to me, I would end this here and now."

_CLANK! _The current Commander presented the former Commander with metal manacles on his hands.

"But it is my duty as first lieutenant to Megatron to render all traitors to my lord and master for due punishment," Dreadwing finished.

"FIRST LIEUTENANT?!" Starscream screeched in disbelief, "THAT'S MY POST!"

Immediately, the drones charged their blasters toward Starscream. Well, for the drones, Starscream was no longer first lieutenant. And if necessary, they would kill him directly.

"_Was_, my post," Starscream immediately corrected.

And so, they took Starscream for the relic hunt. Again, Starscream was proved not capable on watching his mouth.

"Commander Dreadwing, this must be a very important mission if Megatron has dispatched his second-in-command. Scouting for energon or something else altogether?" Starscream asked.

"That is none of your concern," Dreadwing shrugged him off, and continued on watching his scanner.

"If I knew what you were looking for, perhaps I could help..." Starscream inquired, before a drone harshly ordered him to move by pushing a blaster on his back.

"We have arrived at the coordinates," Dreadwing said as he arrived at the location.

But much to the blue Con's surprise, there was nothing except a large hole on the ice wall. Clearly, whatever was there had been taken earlier.

"The relic! It has been taken!" Dreadwing hissed.

"Relic? What relic?" Starscream demanded.

"Search the area!" Dreadwing immediately ordered.

* * *

Oblivious to them, Optimus was on higher cliff, observing. He too, noticed the hole on the ice wall. Optimus knew that the relic was already gone, but not taken by the Decepticons.

* * *

"Commander Dreadwing, we have discovered vehicle tracks," a drone reported.

"The Autobots," Dreadwing concluded.

"Perhaps. Though I've never known them to plant flags at the site of their victories..." Starscream trailed off.

Dreadwing already had enough of Starscream's endless ramble. He grabbed Starscream's neck and lifted him, "Do not try me, traitor! I will leave your lifeless husk in this frozen waste!"

Then he heard an engine sound approaching. A red truck was driving to their direction. Dreadwing immediately knew who it was.

"You two, guard the prisoner," Dreadwing instructed. And so, Optimus transformed and stood before the Decepticon troops, "Optimus Prime! I will request only once that you surrender the relic!"

"I was going to request the same of you, Dreadwing," Optimus argued.

"Then I would say that we were on equal footing…were it not that there were five of us and only one of you," Dreadwing threatened more.

"Six! If you'd relieve me of these ridiculous manacles!" Starscream barked.

Optimus didn't say or do anything. He and Dreadwing were exchanging stares. The long silence indicated that nobody on each side would finish the business with words. As warriors, they would finish it with guns. And that was what happened next, Dreadwing and his drones fired their weapons to Optimus. Optimus returned fire by his own cannons. The last Prime leapt to dodge every fire and fired back. Two drones charged forward, but the red Prime managed to bust them. One shoot managed to hit Dreadwing's shoulder.

Immediately, Dreadwing fired three explosives missiles toward Optimus. Optimus jumped to dodge it, and the missiles created fireball behind him. Dreadwing put back his cannon on his back. As for Optimus, he unfolded his right sword and prepared to strike Dreadwing. Dreadwing pulled out his own sword, and there was sword clash. After some clashing, Optimus kicked Dreadwing away.

Dreadwing would win the match, any match, with Optimus. To revenge his twin brother, whose demise was under watch of Optimus. He charged once more to Optimus, and managed to knock him close to the edge of the icy cliff. Both mechs folded back their sword, and charged forward. Dreadwing then pushed Optimus to the bottom of the cliff. Down there, they began hand-to-hand combat. Once again, Dreadwing managed to overpower Optimus. With quick thinking, Optimus deployed his cannon, and shot it to the icy wall behind Dreadwing.

"Your aim is poor," Dreadwing mocked.

"That is only a matter of perspective," Optimus argued, since he was aiming for something else. Both of the mechs spun around to see the icy wall began to crumble down. Optimus quickly stood up and put distance.

"NO!" Dreadwing cried out as the avalanche buried him for good.

Pretty soon, the drones who held Starscream came to the scene, to check over their Commander.

"A stalemate would leave us…where?" Starscream commented.

"Commander Dreadwing!" one drone called out.

But only Optimus approached them. With the main protocol, the drones began to open fire to Optimus. Optimus likewise returned the fires with his owns. Starscream decided to use the situation for his escape. He quickly grabbed the drone who was shooting at his left side. This eventually caught the attention of the other one, who aimed his blaster to Starscream. In quick reflex, Starscream spun and used the drone in his grip to shield himself. Eventually, one drone down. And the other one, was taken down by Optimus.

"What a team we make!" Starscream gloated as he walked away from the dead drones, "And I am so glad that you prevailed, Optimus Prime! That wretched Dreadwing was going to terminate me! Now if you could just remove my bonds, I can lead you straight to the relic!"

Apparently, he just realized on how Optimus turned into ruthless mech. The wise Prime cocked his cannon to Starscream.

"You will lead me there regardless," Optimus merely said.

"Humph, you're welcome," Starscream scoffed.

* * *

That being said, Starscream led Optimus to the place of relic. Leading was understatement, Starscream was being held captive as well.

"You are reasonable Prime! This cold will freeze both our articulators!" Starscream stated.

"The current temperatures aren't extreme enough to effect our biology, you will be fine," Optimus replied.

"Fine but miserable. And I cannot believe you'd take our alliances for granted after all I have done for the Autobots! Helping to restore your memory, saving Arcee's and Aria's lives…," Starscream trailed off slyly.

"While you have at times proved beneficial to us, it has been only to improve your own interests," Optimus stated, "And for the action you was about to do with my daughter a while ago. You might save Aria's life, but not without trying to kill her afterward."

"Oh, she told you that? Well, we all can't be as selfless as you, can we? Oh right, you are not that selfless. You adopted a half Autobot girl as your daughter anyway. I know it, that girl is not really your biological daughter. Because your first daughter Arianna had to die for that human girl to..." Starscream trailed off.

Optimus was angered in instant. Much to Starscream's shock, Optimus grabbed his neck and lifted him, much like Dreadwing did before.

"Watch your words, Starscream," Optimus growled dangerously. "You know nothing about both of my daughters. But, you should know of what caused me to lose Arianna in first place. If it were up to me, I will end your life here and now."

"Optimus, easy with me...please. Well, I regret of your loss, but you should know that it wasn't my fault that she..." Starscream quivered. He just learnt how dangerous the Prime could be if angered.

"You were in play when Arianna was abducted, by Megatron. I do not think that you know the meaning of that day for me," Optimus cut in. That fateful day was the beginning of his world being torn apart. He tossed the jet back to the icy ground. "And if you try as much as touching Aria, you would do well going pit bottom. There is no way I would repeat the same mistake," Optimus meant every word he said. He couldn't afford losing Aria. And so, he would slash anyone's head who tried to hurt his last daughter.

And so, they continued their journey. Starscream was more submissive after Prime's little outburst. "Ahhh…," Starscream hummed as they came into sight of building complex at Antarctic, "As I suspected, humans. We will find the relic here. So let us reclaim what is rightfully ours."

Starscream walked forward, but Optimus once again grabbed him and tossed him to the glacier.

"We cannot just simply enter a human facility in search of Cybertronian relics," Optimus growled.

"Not even if they stole it?" Starscream asked.

"Nor can I expose innocent humans to a dangerous Decepticon," Optimus ended the argument, "Rafael, has Agent Fowler regained consciousness?"

* * *

"I'm here, Prime," Fowler answered instead, "_What's your situation?_"

"I require access to a search facility at my current coordinates," Optimus requested.

"_Let me make a call._"

* * *

Meanwhile, Dreadwing finally freed himself from the thick snow. He gathered his sword and cannon, then spotted the two drones already being terminated. He immediately knew who to blame. And as he found footprints on the snow, he transformed to follow the track.

* * *

"Are we really going to wait out here in the freezing cold completely at the mercy of human bureaucracy?!" Starscream asked impatiently.

Then a second later, they heard helicopter buzzing, leaving the place.

"_Base is clear, Prime. Try not to wreck the joint," _Fowler confirmed.

"Many thanks, Agent Fowler," Optimus thanked as he pushed Starscream forward.

Pretty soon, both mechs arrived at the research facility. Optimus opened the door to the warehouse, and they got the jackpot. The relic was stored there, frozen inside a thick ice.

"The relic is still incased in ice," Optimus observed.

"I knew of your questionably honors, Starscream! But aiding the Autobots, that is capital offence!" Dreadwing yelled as he too, arrived at the location.

"B...but, I left tracks for you! On purpose! So you could rescue me from my captor!" Starscream objected.

"Dreadwing, I cannot allow you to leave here with this relic," Optimus declared as he moved forward.

"I know that, Prime. But I do not intend to give you a choice," Dreadwing replied. Then he pulled his cannon and fired couple rounds to Optimus.

Optimus dodged it, charged forward and slammed to Dreadwing. The second round soon began between the two. Starscream meanwhile turned his attention to the relic.

"Given all the fuss, this relic must be special," Starscream noted as he tapped the ice case.

So, Starscream tried to dig up the relic by bashing his cuffs to the ice.

Optimus got himself in Dreadwing's lock grip. The last Prime managed to free himself. Dreadwing took few steps back, and pressed his remote. Turned out, he placed his bomb on Optimus' chest, and it was about to go off. Optimus immediately grabbed the bomb, threw it, and retreated as far as possible from the explosion.

"Armor of Decepticon origin..." Starscream commented as he finally got the armor.

The Seeker then placed the disk onto his chest, and it activated. In matter of seconds, Starscream's whole body was covered in armor, and his cuffs were broken. He grew even taller, bigger, and bulkier. He got the evil smirk on his face after that.

Optimus was once again flattened on the snow, and Dreadwing had his sword ready. Before the blue Con could strike, they heard something was bursting through the warehouse' ceiling. It was Starscream in his new armor, and he landed in front of the two others.

"The Apex Armor..." Optimus gasped.

"A perfect fit," Starscream was satisfied.

"You dare to claim that which belongs to Lord Megatron?!" Dreadwing yelled.

"And what do you intend to do about it, Commander?" Starscream challenged with a smirk, and he took battle position.

Dreadwing wasn't the one who would back down, so he bravely charged forward and tried to slash the armor. However, his sword barely made a scratch on the Apex Armor. Then, Starscream easily thwarted Dreadwing aside by single swing.

"Not so big and strong now, are you?!" Starscream taunted, "I haven't had this much fun since I punched that hole in Cliffjumper! Allow me to reunite you with your beloved twin!" Starscream then lifted a tractor nearby, trying to pancake Dreadwing with it.

Optimus rushed to offer helping hand, and he tried to attack Starscream. He slammed to Starscream, making the latter dropped the tractor. Optimus then tried to throw a punch, but it was easily caught by Starscream.

"And you, Optimus Prime. I will beat the living spark out of you, just so I never again have to endure your pontificating! I believe you want so badly to reunite with your late daughter. And, do not worry about Aria. Because you will be seeing her soon, in the afterlife," Starscream yelled out as he painfully gripped Optimus' hand.

Starscream then tossed the Prime to nearby crates. Dreadwing shot him with his cannon, and once again tried to strike with his sword. However it too was at vain, and Starscream just tossed him to Optimus' side.

"Dreadwing, our battle remains unfinished. But if we do not unite against our common foe..." Optimus began.

"Starscream would destroy us both," Dreadwing finished. Although reluctant, he saw the necessity of forming temporary alliance.

Starscream just walked to them with evil chuckle.

"I will draw his attention," Dreadwing said as he handed Optimus one his proximity bomb.

After that, Dreadwing transformed into jet, flew and shot at the same time. Starscream just chuckled as the fires bounced harmlessly on his armor. Then, Starscream jumped and smashed Dreadwing out of the air.

"Might beats flight!" Starscream boasted.

Optimus then jumped onto Starscream's back to plant the bomb. Starscream hurled around to shake the Prime away, and he turned his attention to Optimus. Dreadwing noticed that the bomb was already in place.

"You should be the one to join with the AllSpark!" Dreadwing stated as he pressed the button on his remote.

And Starscream heard the beeps, he hurriedly spun around to find the source. He realized that the bomb was on his back. But before anything...

_KABOOM_

The smoke cleared, and Starscream was still unscathed. The armor was way, way too sturdy and powerful.

"That tickles!" Starscream laughed off, "Fools! Not only am I intelligent! I AM INVISIBLE!"

"Yet you cannot fly!" Optimus pointed out.

"Nobody's perfect," Starscream said as he approached Optimus, "Now tell me of the other three relics. Are they as powerful as my shiny new armor?"

"They were hidden away precisely to keep them away from the likes of you!" Optimus snarled.

"He is far too powerful, Prime!" Dreadwing instructed, "Fall back!"

Optimus followed Dreadwing's advise, as he transformed to truck, and joined Dreadwing's side.

"Cowards!" Starscream laughed, "You will not escape my might...wait...! You two are up to something!"

Yes, they were up to something. Dreadwing pushed his remote, and he already planted five bombs surrounding Starscream. Both of the mechs retreated as far as possible to avoid the blast.

_KA-BOOM!  
_

It was a big explosion. The ice below Starscream's feet was busted up, the Seeker was plummeting to the icy water below it. Optimus walked forward to see the damage, and Dreadwing had another plan.

"Now that our alliance has served its purpose," Dreadwing noted as he unsheathed his sword.

"Starscream is gone and the Apex Armor with him," Optimus stated as he brought out his sword, "Is there any need to renew battle when the gold has been lost?"

"We have other unfinished matters," Dreadwing hissed.

"I bore Skyquake no malice. I regret the role that I played in his demise," Optimus folded his sword, and offered his hand, "So I will appeal to you as I once did your twin. Turn your back on the Decepticon cause and help me end this war. For his sake and all that have fallen."

Betraying his master was out of question, but Dreadwing understood the situation. He put back his sword back, "You have saved my life today. I will terminate you the next time we meet."

With those words said, Dreadwing transformed into his jet mode and flew away into the Aurora Borealis.

"So be it, Dreadwing," Optimus whispered.

* * *

Meanwhile, Starscream was pretty much intact even after the explosion. He was scoffing as he walked on the seabed.

* * *

Review please :3


	21. Triage

_"Nothing is more despicable than respect based on fear"_

_Albert Camus_

* * *

Out of the bad things Ratchet had been through, this was probably the worst of all. Ratchet still didn't know though, which one was better; traveling together with Megatron...or Wheeljack? Either way, Ratchet had never been acquaintance with any insubordinate, and he didn't want to deal with them. In the forest, Ratchet approached Wheeljack who was on standby with Jackhammer.

"The boss thought you needed backup, huh?" Wheeljack noted.

"If you must know, Optimus feels strongly that you require supervision," Ratchet corrected.

"I'll be sure to be on my best behavior, Doc," Wheeljack promised.

"Please don't call me Doc," Ratchet requested.

"Whatever you say, sunshine," Wheeljack added more, making Ratchet just grunted in annoyance.

Ratchet already knew that he wouldn't like that. However, a duty was a duty. And so, both of the Autobots flew in Jackhammer to the coordinates.

"So, all of Team Prime is busy chasing down these five Iacon relics?" Wheeljack summed up.

"The five which are currently in play," Ratchet nodded.

"There's more?!" Wheeljack said in surprise.

"Megatron maintains possession of the entire Iacon database. We have yet to learn how many more relics or Decepticon weapons of mass destruction it contains," Ratchet explained.

"No worries, Doc. I've got your back," Wheeljack reassured.

"My name is not Doc!" Ratchet snarled once again. "And I do not require anyone watching my back! I've proved my metal during the War for Cybertron!"

"Then I'm lucky you're along for the ride, champ," Wheeljack noted when his radar picked up something that he wouldn't like, "'Cause we've got a bogey on our tail!"

True, they were being pursued, in the form of a jet plane flying behind them.

"Soundwave!" Ratchet identified.

"Megatron's communications chief?" Wheeljack asked.

"He must be tracking the same coordinates," Ratchet noted.

Soundwave wasn't only communications chief, he was also a warrior. So when he spotted the ship, he immediately opened fire.

"You might wanna grab on to something," Wheeljack warned, as he maneuvered his ship to dodge the fires.

And dodging wasn't the only thing of the Wrecker, as he flipped his ship 360 degrees.

"Are you trying to send us to the scrapyard?!" Ratchet yelled as everything inside was turned upside down.

Jackhammer was behind Soundwave after that, and Wheeljack returned the fire by his own.

"What's that?!" Wheeljack demanded, gesturing to the drone following them. Soundwave throttled his engine to escape, but not without sending

"Soundwave's surveillance drone, Laserbeak," Ratchet answered before grunting at the more violent maneuvers Wheeljack performed to avoid Laserbeak's firepower, "Wheeljack, maintain pursuit! Soundwave is merely using the drone to distract us!"

"I welcome a good distraction," Wheeljack smirked as an idea formed in his head.

'_Now why does that make me nervous?_' Ratchet thought to herself dryly.

Eventually, Wheeljack managed to flip the ship over Laserbeak so he was now flying behind him. He then began to open fire on the drone. After all, as the saying goes…

What goes around comes around.

"The hunter becomes the hunted," Wheeljack mused.

"This is no time for hot dogging!" Ratchet snapped.

Both of Wheeljack and Laserbeak continued the hot firing battle, even as they entered a thick cloud. Laserbeak was nowhere to be seen inside the cloud.

"He's gone," Ratchet said, "Now we can find Sound...WHOA!"

Laserbeak emerged from the cloud, and loomed over the Jackhammer. Wheeljack continued the pursue within the cloud. But as they cleared from the cloud, they were heading straight to a cliff wall. Wheeljack hastily pulled up when Ratchet let out high pitched scream. They made it past the cliff, barely. There, Laserbeak was in front of them.

"What are you doing?!" Ratchet asked nervously as Wheeljack flew towards the shooting Laserbeak returning fire as well…and showing no signs of pulling up, "Wheeljack… WHEELJACK!"

Laserbeak loomed on top of Jackhammer. Wheeljack spun around and fired. This time, he managed to hit a direct score on the bird.

"Took down that 'Con!" Wheeljack cheered.

"You did it!" Ratchet gasped in surprise.

Laserbeak was plummeting with smoke trail. It let out two stray shots, and one of them hit Jackhammer. The ship was damaged, and dived down as well. More roll up and down as the ship made its way to the ground.

* * *

The ship hit the ground hard, and was damaged badly. However, the passengers were quite intact.

"Argh! Right thruster's fried!" Wheeljack grumbled in frustration as he saw the damage.

"If you had pursued Soundwave as I instructed...!" Ratchet scolded.

"His little birdy would still be pecking at our tailpipes!" Wheeljack argued.

"Well, we need to resume our search for the relic immediately! Soundwave may have already reached it!" Ratchet changed the topic as he walked away.

"The Jackhammer's not going anywhere. If you wanna catch that 'Con, we need to roll," Wheeljack argued.

"Make up your mind! Are we walking or are we driving?!" Ratchet snapped impatiently.

Ratchet spun around to see Wheeljack was approaching something. He deployed his swords, Laserbeak was on the ground.

"Wheeljack, keep your distance. Laserbeak is the eyes and ears of Soundwave," Ratchet warned.

"Not anymore, it isn't," Wheeljack corrected with a smirk. He flipped Laserbeak over with his sword.

* * *

Meanwhile, Soundwave managed to reach the location of the relic. He first triangulated the coordinate, then began drilling to the underground using his tentacles.

* * *

"Operating system seems functional but offline," Ratchet scanned Laserbeak, "However, the crash clearly damaged its audio and visual receptors."

"Guess someone's gonna need a new snitch," Wheeljack joked with a smirk.

"Minor victory and not the one we're here to achieve," Ratchet retorted as he went to walk away.

"Hold on there, Doc!" Wheeljack called out as he pulled out his grenade, "Situation's ripe for an old Wrecker trick."

"I'm…not sure I follow," Ratchet stated.

"Sooner or later, Soundwave's gonna come looking for his pet. We let them reunite and return to base packing a live grenade. The first time 'Wave reaches inside, trips the pin and ka-boom!" Wheeljack explained.

The Wrecker style idea caused Ratchet to get scientist style idea.

"Why plant a simple incendiary device when we could plant a more devastating bomb?" Ratchet stated, as he walked back to the downed bird. He opened up Laserbeak with his tool, "A virus engineered to pass from Laserbeak to Soundwave then directly into the Decepticon warship's mainframe where it will transmit the entire contents of the Iacon database to us."

"Sounds complex. Thought we were in a hurry," Wheeljack noted.

"Optimus would agree. Risking the loss of one relic to gain the rest is a worthwhile gamble," Ratchet argued.

"You really have the chops to pull off that kind of programming?" Wheeljack asked.

"Not alone. I'll require backup," Ratchet replied.

* * *

Back at base, Fowler was already awake, and Raf was working on his computer. Fowler was in conversation with Aria.

"_Change course of action. I'm heading to Tenerife. __Reopen the GroundBridge,"_ it was from Aria.

"Raf, Aria needs a bridge," Fowler called out.

"_Rafael, we have a situation," _ Ratchet called in.

"Agent Fowler, hold on. Ratchet, what is it?" Raf asked the other one.

* * *

Meanwhile, Soundwave managed to triangulate the coordinate, and drilled with his tentacles.

* * *

"_If you could write a source code for the virus, my scanners could translate it to Cybertronian script as it uploads._"

"I can do it. But if we want to keep the virus hidden from the 'Cons, we'll need a decoy. You know, like a second virus," Raf suggested.

* * *

"Or something less complicated," Ratchet turned his attention to Wheeljack's grenade.

"A decoy as in we want them to find it. But doesn't blow?" Wheeljack summed up.

"Correct," Ratchet nodded.

"Seems like the waste of a perfectly good grenade," Wheeljack commented as he threw his grenade to Ratchet.

Ratchet then pulled out the core of the grenade, and placed it inside Laserbeak's system.

* * *

"Wait a minute. A grenade inside of Laserbeak inside of Soundwave?!" Raf repeated in surprise, "Like a turducken!"

"_I'm sorry?_"**  
**

"It's a turkey stuffed with a duck stuffed with a…never mind," Raf put it aside.

* * *

Wheeljack began to walk away from Ratchet.

"And where are you off to?" Ratchet asked.

"By you some time. And who knows? Maybe pick up a relic," Wheeljack replied. He transformed to vehicle and drove away.

* * *

Soundwave pulled out the relic from the ground, in shape of a blaster. But at that time, Wheeljack launched from the upper cliff, transformed, and attacking Soundwave with his swords. Soundwave jumped back to dodged it.

"You dropped something," Wheeljack said.

Soundwave noticed that the blaster was gone from his tentacle. It was dropped on the lower cliff. There was Mexican standoff, until Soundwave sharpened his claws.

"This should be fun," Wheeljack smirked as his battle mask covered his face.

The white Wrecker charged and struck with his blades. Soundwave blocked every blow with his hand, but the blade scratched on his visor. Then, the silent bot grabbed one of the swords, then tossed Wheeljack away. Wheeljack balanced himself so he wouldn't fall from the cliff. Soundwave had his sword on his hand. Not backing down, Wheeljack attacked with his remaining sword.

Soundwave threw the katana back to Wheeljack, the latter just thwarted it aside. Soundwave then grabbed Wheeljack's head and tossed him harshly to the ground. The surveillance chief had the Wrecker pinned on his chest by his tentacle, the other tentacle tried to drill on his face. Wheeljack grabbed it before it touched his face, and used it to strike the tentacle pinning his chest. After freeing himself, Wheeljack head butted Soundwave right on his visor, cracking it eventually.

"Here I go again. Shattering expectations," Wheeljack joked.

* * *

"Rafael, I've jacked into Laserbeak's uplink transmitter. When you're ready, I will bring its operating systems back online in order to receive the transfer," Ratchet confirmed.

* * *

Wheeljack roared as he shot Soundwave with his cannons. The surveillance chief was pushed to the edge of the cliff. The white Wrecker launched forward and knocked Soundwave to the below. Soundwave lied flat on his back, and he noticed the blaster was lying few feet from his position. Wheeljack pinned him down and aimed his cannon to his head.

"Any last words, 'Con?" Wheeljack asked, but the answer remained the same, "Right. Silent type."

But little did he knew, Soundwave already grabbed the blaster using his tentacle and snuck it to Wheeljack's behind. The blaster fired on, producing powerful high frequency sound wave that attacked Wheeljack's processor. Wheeljack cried out in pain, and eventually, he was knocked unconscious.

* * *

"Ratchet, the virus is coded. Commencing upload," Raf reported.

The virus transfer began, but Laserbeak already came back to life. Ratchet had to pin it down to prevent it from flying away before the upload finished.

* * *

Wheeljack was half conscious, as Soundwave approached him. The silent Con once again aimed the blaster to Wheeljack, attempting to finish him once and for all. However, he was stopped in mid track as the transmission from Laserbeak came.

"Rafael, what's our progress?" Ratchet asked, he still held Laserbeak down.

"_50%._"

"_Doc…_" came the comm from Wheeljack.

"Wheeljack! I told you not to call me that!" Ratchet snapped.

"_I'm sorry…_"

"What's wrong? Where are you?" the medic bot sensed something was wrong with Wheeljack.

"_I…figure that you got…maybe…2 minutes…_"

Ratchet immediately knew what it meant. As he gazed to the direction, he could see Soundwave approaching from far away, and fast.

"Or less," Ratchet muttered, "Wheeljack, what's your condition?"

But no answer his time.

"Wheeljack..." Ratchet called one more time, but still no response, "Rafael…"

"_We're almost there._"

Still holding Laserbeak, Ratchet hid behind big rock to avoid being found. He checked over his scanner, it was so close. And then finally...

"_Done!_"

That was the cue for the medic to close up Laserbeak and let him fly off, losing a tail in the process. Laserbeak flew away few meters before falling flat to the ground again. And that was when Soundwave arrived at the location. He first noticed the Jackhammer, and spun around when he sensed something was behind him.

"Scrap!" Ratchet hissed as he crouched lower.

All Soundwave found was his Laserbeak. He walked closer, and put back the bird into his chest. Ratchet lifted his head a bit to see that the Con was about to leave. But he slipped, and the sound made Soundwave spun around in alert again. The surveillance chief decided to check it over, and deployed his tentacles. The tentacles crawled all the way to Ratchet's hiding spot. The medic curled himself, trying to avoid being touched by the tentacles. Thankfully, all the tentacles managed to find was Laserbeak's missing tail. Retrieving the missing part, Soundwave transformed and left for good.

That was when Ratchet finally came out of the rock.

"Soundwave has taken the bait. Wheeljack…," Ratchet knew that Wheeljack was down, "Scrap!"

Ratchet immediately transformed and looked for the missing Wrecker.

* * *

"Ah…the Resonance Blaster… Crafted by Decepticon scientists for maximum sonic devastation. Soundwave, you have performed admirable," Megatron praised, and turned to scold Dreadwing, "Unlike Dreadwing here, who somehow managed to lose the Apex Armor to Starscream! However, three more decrypted coordinates remain in play. And I have every confidence that Knock Out and Helios…"

Just then, Knock Out arrived back at the ship, suffering very bad cosmetic damage.

"Can you believe what the Autobots did to me?!" Knock Out yelled out in frustration.

"Did you retrieve the relic?!" Megatron demanded.

"No, master..." Knock Out answered hesitantly.

"Then I suggest you convince me of your continued usefulness by examining Laserbeak, doctor," Megatron ordered immediately.

* * *

"Wheeljack!"

Ratchet was alarmed when he found Wheeljack lying unconscious. He lifted the Wrecker, and the latter just regained consciousness.

"Just resting my optics…," Wheeljack groaned, "And my audio receptors…"

* * *

"What is it?" Megatron asked when Knock Out scanned over Laserbeak.

"An obstruction of some sort," Knock Out answered when he checked his scanner.

Soundwave hopped off the metal berth, and detached Laserbeak. When he opened the bird up, there was the grenade, ready to blow up at any time.

"GRENADE!" Knock Out screamed out, he jumped away, and took cover with trembling body.

"Ahh...that is clever. Knock Out, prepare to properly dispose of the obstruction," Megatron ordered, and mused at the same time.

Of course, although Knock Out was reluctant, if he refused Megatron would dispose him instead. So, Knock Out mashed through the Nemesis hallway with the grenade bouncing on his hands. Being disposed by Megatron or by the grenade, which one was better?

"Soundwave, if we are to obtain any advantage of the Autobots..." Megatron began.

_KABOOM_

Megatron just frowned at the sound. The grenade blew up, alright, what else did it suppose to do?

"Decoding the remainder of the Iacon database must remain your top priority," Megatron finished.

Soundwave just nodded.

* * *

Ratchet and Wheeljack raced back to the location of Jackhammer. Since the relic had been lost, and their main task had completed, they had nothing to do next except going home.

"Rafael, send the GroundBridge," Ratchet requested as they transformed into their bipedal modes, "I would still advise that you would return to base. You require a thorough examination."

"The only thing I require right now is a hole sealant," Wheeljack, stubborn as ever, "Trust me, the Jackhammer is in more need of a repair than me."

"Listen, Wheeljack...thank you for your backup," Ratchet said sincerely.

"Yep," Wheeljack nodded, and soon afterward the GroundBridge opened, "See you around…Ratchet."

That brought Ratchet's attention, and he couldn't help but smile. Maybe...an insubordinate wasn't always that bad.

* * *

Aboard the Nemesis, Soundwave began to decode the Iacon database. And so, as he accessed the computer, the virus inside Laserbeak started to work.

* * *

"Ratchet! Come here!" Raf called when Ratchet arrived from the GroundBridge.

"The Iacon database?!" Ratchet gasped, and he saw the screen. The data was filling nonstop.

"It's downloading to our mainframe!" Raf added.

Ratchet laughed, "Rafael, you are a genius!"

* * *

"Oh, believe me. Soundwave will provide the coordinates to the remaining relics," Megatron told Knock Out.

"Yes, we are fortunate to have him on our side, Lord Megatron," Knock Out muttered, but he didn't mean every word of it.

"And see about repairing his cracked visor, will you?" Megatron ordered before walking away.

Knock Out just growled and gave menacing look to Soundwave's back.

"Oh, one more thing, Knock Out," Megatron spun around.

"Yes, yes, what is it?" Knock Out immediately stopped glaring, and stood dutifully. If only Megatron found what he just did before...

"Helios is in charge for the fifth coordinate, and he was departing all alone. It is already rather late, so how if you go and provide some back up to him? That, if you want to prove that you are still useful outside med bay, doctor," Megatron explained.

* * *

"Bulkhead's coming through, Agent Fowler," Raf announced as the GroundBridge activated.

"I can't wait to share the news!" Ratchet cheered in excitement.

But the joy moment was short-lived, because Bulkhead flying through the portal...with his back smoking. And he wasn't moving, just lying on the floor.

"No...!" Ratchet gasped.

What in the name of Allspark just happened?

* * *

Please review :3


	22. Toxicity

_"He who is not courageous enough to take risks will accomplish nothing in life"_

_Muhammad Ali_

* * *

For the fourth set of coordinates, Megatron decided to test the Insecticons. Of course, he had to choose the best one for the important task. He entered the Insecticon hive and observed all of them.

"Who is the fiercest among you?" Megatron asked.

"There is no greater ferocity than an Insecticon hive. But… If you were to choose one among us…"

One Insecticon then landed behind Megatron. That one was covered with scars everywhere.

"I am Hardshell," Hardshell introduced himself.

"You will retrieve something for me, Hardshell," Megatron said. "And annihilate everything that gets in your way!"

* * *

And so, Hardshell took three more Insecticons to the location, on the volcano. As Megatron instructed, they wouldn't hesitate to terminate anyone or anything that got in their way.

"Divide and do not hesitate to conquer," Hardshell instructed, and the three bugs deployed themselves. Hardshell himself then transformed to bug mode, and flew off.

* * *

"Jack and Miko will accompany Arcee and Bumblebee," Optimus instructed.

"YES!" Miko cheered.

"Initiate transport and triangulate coordinates of the other four relics," Optimus instructed.

"That was some trick, Miko!" Bulkhead called as Miko got down from the platform using ladder.

"You mean swiping Intel right under Megatron's nose?!" Miko said. "Just doing my part for Team Prime."

_HONK! HONK!_

"Oh! Gotta go, Bulk!" Miko left her green buddy as Bumblebee honked. "I'll tell you all about it when we get back."

"Take care, Miko!" Bulkhead and Raf called them.

"Bulkhead, prepare for departure," Optimus instructed.

"You are headed for the Equator," Ratchet explained.

"I'll prep for tropical weather! Wrecker style!" Bulkhead cheered.

"Rafael and Agent Fowler will be your communications and transportation hub," Optimus explained further as the GroundBridge opened again.

Raf seemed up for the job, however the thing couldn't be said for Agent Fowler. He was still not fully conscious.

"I CAN HAZ CHEESEBURGER!" Fowler sang.

"Just how long until he finishes with that…?" Aria mused out.

"Communications, huh?" Bulkhead commented dryly before making his way to the GroundBridge.

"Be on your guard, Bulkhead," Optimus warned.

"Bring me souvenir, Bulk!" Aria yelled out.

* * *

With that, Bulkhead walked to the portal. He arrived at the volcano area, which was rather smoky and smelly.

"Smells worse then the Decepticon barracks!" Bulkhead scoffed, "Fine place to hide a relic!"

The green Wrecker started to scout the entire area. However, he only stumbled upon rocks, lava, rocks, lava, nothing seemed like a relic from Cybertron. Bulkhead began to think that he ended up at wrong place.

"Base, I can't find any site of the relic," Bulkhead reported, "Can you reconfirm coordinates?"

* * *

"Triangulating your position, Bulkhead," Raf said as he zoomed on Bulkhead's position and the coordinates, "You're at the correct position."

"Need…coffee," Fowler muttered as he walked down the stair past Raf, still dazed, but fully conscious.

* * *

"Then the coordinates are wrong! 'Cause there's nothing here!" Bulkhead said as he dusted his hands.

Then he heard buzzing sound approaching.

"But something's coming!" Bulkhead noted.

Bulkhead recognized the buzzing as Insecticons. And true, four bugs were flying to his direction. The green bot started to fire to the Insecticons. One Insecticon grabbed him, and tossed him to lower mountain. It was Hardshell, he transformed and charged toward the Wrecker. Bulkhead backed away, blocked some punches and sending his own fist.

"Leave it to Megatron to send a bug to do his dirty work," Bulkhead commented.

"You know a thing or two about dirty work yourself, Wrecker," Hardshell snarled.

"Do I know you?" Bulkhead asked warily.

"I know your kind. I have crossed more than a few Wreckers in my time," Hardshell replied.

"Now, you see, the thing about bugs your size, they make a bigger mess when I smash them!" Bulkhead smirked.

Bulkhead deployed his wrecking balls, and sent a couple of punches to Hardshell. Hardshell blocked the third punch, and struck the green bot with his claw. After that, the bug thwarted Bulkhead aside. He tried to stomp over Bulkhead, but Bulkhead just dodged it.

Changing strategy, Bulkhead brought out his cannons and shot at Hardshell. But the Insecticon just charged forward and punched him in the face. Bulkhead just spun around and punched back with his ball. Then, with one last strike, Bulkhead broke Hardshell's mandible, and knocked him out cold.

Bulkhead decided not to waste any time, his priority was the relic. And so, he transformed to car, and raced away.

* * *

"Okay, I'm leaving again," Aria was already back on base, but she was about to leave again. Raf opened the GroundBridge again, and Aria was hot on her wheels.

"Be careful Aria, especially in area of rich bastards!" Fowler yelled out.

"Transport complete. Ratchet, the virus is coded. Commencing upload," Raf announced as he began uploading the virus.

"_Raf, I have a beat on the relic._"

"Raf's busy. I'll take it from here," Fowler explained.

"_Fowler?! How was your beauty sleep?!_"

"Fine. Dreamt I finally got some respect from you," Fowler answered.

* * *

"Keep dreaming," Bulkhead scoffed.

"_What's your status?_"

"I came up empty at the provided coordinates. But I figured old lava flow would have carried the relic downhill," Bulkhead said.

* * *

"Wouldn't that just burn it up?" Fowler inquired.

"_These relics survived interstellar travel. I'm sure they can survive molten… Oh scrap!_"

"What is it?" Fowler asked.

* * *

"I'm leaking energon. Insecticon hit me hard," Bulkhead grumbled. As he drove, the energon dripped from his body.

"_Insecticon?!_"

"Probably knocked a gasket loose. Don't worry about it. Trust me. He's in way worse shape then I am," Bulkhead reassured.

* * *

Well, little did Bulkhead knew, Hardshell already regained consciousness. Soon, his fellows bug came to him.

"The Wrecker left me alive. The last mistake he'll ever make," Hardshell snarled.

Hardshell transformed to bug and flew away. He had things to take care of, the relic, and the Wrecker.

Finally, Bulkhead spotted a Cybertronian jar. He transformed and walked closer.

"There you are," Bulkhead noted.

Then, with some attemps, he managed to open it.

"Got the lid off," Bulkhead shrugged as he tossed the lid aside.

But as he looked inside, there was horrible smell and green fog. Bulkhead knew the thing all too well, and he realized that it wasn't a good situation.

"Uh-oh…"

* * *

"Omega what?" Fowler asked in confusion.

_"The thing is too huge," _Aria was in comm. "_I will require backup…"_

"_Base, we have a problem," _Bulkhead intercepted.

"Hold on, Aria. Bulkhead, what is it?" Fowler asked.

"_I found the relic. It's a cash of energon._"

"That's good, right?" Fowler guessed.

* * *

"No, no, no. Not this kind. It's known as ToxEn. Causes nausea and dizziness upon contact. Prolonged exposure weakens us to the point of paralysis. And then…it snuffs out our sparks," Bulkhead explained as he nervously backed away from the green stuff.

"_Well, what are you talking to me for?! Get far away from that ToxEn pronto! If it's as deadly as they say, the 'Cons won't want it either!_"

"No! They'll want it even more!" Bulkhead argued before recalling a story, "During the war for Cybertron, Megatron figured out a way to refine raw ToxEn and turn it into a weapon of mass destruction. I witnessed an entire unit be wiped out by the sickness! No way I can leave this stuff for the 'Cons to find and abuse!"

* * *

"So bring it back here! Raf, open a GroundBridge!" Fowler instructed the twelve-year-old.

"_Forget it!"_

* * *

"Even if we had a safe place to store it, the stuff's way to potent to risk exposing to the rest of us! I'll call you back," Bulkhead sighed as he glanced at the area around him, "I'm going to need to take care of this. Wrecker style." With that, he pulled out a grenade.

* * *

Meanwhile, Hardshell and his troops came across the jar.

"There!" Hardshell snarled as he went to make a landing.

As they landed, they approached the relic with precaution. One Insecticon removed the jar, and spotted the ToxEn. He went to grab it, but unbeknownst to him, there was grenade planted.

"NO! WAIT!" Hardshell cried.

"ToxEn!" Hardshell gasped.

But it was too late, the grenade exploded. The green stuff splattered on the Insecticon.

"ToxEn!" Hardshell cried out.

* * *

Meanwhile, Bulkhead was carrying the other chunk of ToxEn.

"_Wait! You're carrying it?! I thought that stuff was toxic!_" Fowler asked in panic.

"It is! But I need to put some distance between me and the bugs!" Bulkhead said.

"_Well…what now?_"

"I'm going to get rid of this steaming pile the only way that I know can!" Bulkhead said as he put the ToxEn chunk on the ground and glanced at the volcano in the distance, "I'm going to lob it into the volcano!"

"_What about your insect problem?!_"

"This isn't the first time I've eluded an enemy patrol, you know," he said as he spat some energon to the ground. He had a plan to drive away the Insecticons, at least for a moment.

* * *

Hardshell watched as his fellow was dying over the exposure.

"_Lord Megatron_, _the object we seek! It is ToxEn!_"

"Exactly how much is in your possession?" Megatron inquired.

"_None, my lord! An Autobot…!_"

"Are you not the fiercest Insecticon?" Megatron received no argument.

* * *

"Wait, you're moving away from the volcano?" Fowler asked in confusion as he saw Bulkhead's signal move away from the location.

"_Exactly._"

* * *

Then, Hardshell noticed some drips of energon on the ground.

"Below!" Hardshell announced.

They landed and observed the energon trail. Hardshell coaxed it with his finger and tasted it.

"Yes…the Wrecker leaked from his wounds. Find him," Hardshell instructed.

The three of them transformed and followed the trail.

* * *

Bulkhead strapped the ToxEn on his car roof and he drove off. The prolong exposure already took a toll on him, but he got enough strength just to drive.

"_So…you left a false trail, huh? _I once pulled that trick when I got separated from my unit behind enemy lines," Fowler recalled.

"_When were you behind enemy lines?_"

"I wasn't always a bot sitter," Fowler replied proudly.

"_Next, you're going to tell me that your mother doesn't tuck you in at night._"

* * *

"_Not since basic training._"

"Training as what? A rodeo clown?" Bulkhead asked.

"_You've been spending way too much time at Monster Truck Rallies with Miko. _I was an Army Ranger. We wrecked with the best of them," Fowler recalled.

* * *

"_Who knew you and I were so much alike?_"

Then another beep on the comm link. It was from Optimus.

"_Rafael, has Agent Fowler regained consciousness?_"

"Standby, Bulkhead. I'll be right back," Fowler promised before answering Optimus, "I'm here, Prime. What's your situation?"

"_I require access to a research facility at my current coordinates._"

"Let me make a call," Fowler said as he pulled out his cell phone.

* * *

Bulkhead was already too weak, as he struggled to climb onto a slope. Having no choice, he transformed, and just slid down back again. The ToxEn also slid down together with him.

"A dirty job only a Wrecker can do…" Bulkhead groaned weakly, he stood up and picked the green rock. He continued staggering, "Come on…come on…"

* * *

"This is an emergency. Our satellites have detected dangerous solar flare activity. I need that entire station evacuated immediately! Do you hear me?! Get out of there! NOW!" Fowler boomed over his phone, and immediately cut it off. "Base is clear, Prime. Try not to wreck the joint."

"_Many thanks, Agent Fowler._"

"Bulkhead, how are you holding up?" Fowler turned back to Bulkhead.

* * *

"Any word…from Miko…?" Bulkhead asked weakly as he staggered on.

"_Don't worry about her. Focus on your own mission._"

"Right… I need to rest…just for a minute," Bulkhead whispered.

"_I know it's tough. But I need you to stay on the course._"

Bulkhead couldn't take it anymore, he finally fell on his belly. The green wrecker tried to stand up, but he just fell again on his back. For a moment, he went limp and unresponsive.

"_Bulkhead! Bulkhead! BULKHEAD! BULKHEAD!_ _BULKHEAD! ANSWER ME, YOU RUST BUCKET_!" Fowler called out in panic.

"_I'm here, Ranger._"

"You had me scared, Two-Ton," Fowler sighed in relief.

* * *

"I…I can't do it," Bulkhead panted.

"_I do NOT want to hear that kind of talk! Especially from the likes of you! We both know you made it through worse._"

That was true. He had gone through worse. Scraplets, facing Starscream when his energon was drained with Energon Harvester, being bashed multiple times by Breakdown, holding up an entire mine ceiling, and so on.

"Nah…not worse than this. Not even Scraplets…" Bulkhead objected weakly.

"_Look, soldier. You know as well as I do there's the mission. And the reason why you take the mission!_"

"Honor… duty…," Bulkhead replied back.

"_Family. Which is why you need to do whatever it takes to finish this job and then come home safely._"

Bulkhead began to recall his happy time with Miko.

"_Miko, I'm supposed to be protecting you," Bulkhead stated._

"_Bulkhead, I'm trapped inside ten tons of protective muscle. I'm protected," Miko promised._

"_Miko, check it out. New battle scars!" Bulkhead cheered._

"_Miko?!" Bulkhead gasped as Miko came out of his chest. _

"_I heaved on your floormats. Sorry," Miko apologized sheepishly._

"_Before I became a warrior, I was a laborer. I can build stuff. I can break stuff, and that's it!" Bulkhead explained. _

_"I love breaking stuff! I wanna be just like you, Bulk!" Miko decreed._

"_No. You need to stop. Now!" Bulkhead pleaded._

"_I can't, Bulk! I have to get you out of here!" Miko cried._

"You're right, Fowler. I need to dig deep. For the other bots…for Miko…," Bulkhead found a strength to move again. He couldn't afford to lose, not even once.

* * *

"There is no logic to these movements," Hardshell said as he observed the energon drops. They were going in circle for multiple times. "This trail is meant to lead us astray. To find the Wrecker, we must not follow. We must anticipate."

* * *

Finally, after some tiredsome attempts, Bulkhead almost managed to reach the lava pool. Just few more meters, and everything would be over.

"I'm…almost there," Bulkhead proclaimed as he walked down the small hill.

"That's right, soldier! Dump that rock and come on home!" Fowler encouraged before his cell phone intercepted, "Fowler. Miko, what is it?! What in the Sam Hill?! I'm in the middle of a crisis here! And you want me to…uh…put him on the line."

Bulkhead was very close, but that was when trouble came.

"Wrecker!"

Hardshell and the other Insecticons finally located him, and immediately surrounded the Wrecker.

"Put down the rock! And allow us to put you out of your misery!" Hardshell yelled.

Bulkhead scanned his surrounding and he realized he had no place to run. He had to face them, somehow.

"Gotta swat some flies," Bulkhead grumbled. He took one more grenade, and used it to take down one bug.

Hardshell then charged toward him, but Bulkhead just pushed the ToxEn to Hardshell's jaw. That worked pretty well.

"Fair warning. I'm contagious!" Bulkhead snarled before pushing Hardshell away from him.

Another Insecticon transformed and flew to him, Bulkhead smashed him aside with the green rock. Then, Bulkhead put the ToxEn on top of the bug's body, making him screaming out in pain and agony.

"Hold this," Bulkhead growled, and he focused on Hardshell.

* * *

"Mr. Vogel, this is Special Agent William Fowler of the United States Government. You are hereby deputized as an honorary special agent for the Department of…err… Interstellar Relations," Fowler immediately hung up and returned to the comm, "Bulkhead, you still with me?"

* * *

"I'm in the scrap and you put me on hold?!" Bulkhead scoffed.

"_I want you to know. Miko is safe. Mission accomplished._"

"That's my girl," Bulkhead said in relief, and he lunged to Hardshell once more. He sent a couple of weakened punches on Hardshell. The big bug returned with more powerful smash from his own. There were some more punches, Hardshell finally noticed that his fellow removed the green rock from his body.

"Stay down. Contact the warship for a containment unit," Hardshell instructed.

Bulkhead once again tried to punch him, but Hardshell then smacked his head with all might. Bulkhead groaned in pain, his vision started to go blurry.

"_Bulkhead! Do you read?!_"

* * *

"Ratchet! Come here!" Raf called to Ratchet.

"Bulkhead! Please respond!" Fowler pleaded.

"The Iacon Database?!" Ratchet gasped in surprise and joy.

"It's downloading into our mainframe!" Raf cheered.

"Answer me, soldier!" Fowler yelled more.

"Rafael, you are a genius!" Ratchet laughed off.

"WILL YOU KEEP IT DOWN?!" Fowler yelled out.

* * *

"Your spark is mine, Wrecker," Hardshell vowed as he approached Bulkhead.

Hardshell prepared to kill the Wrecker, as he raised his claw. Bulkhead moved out of the way, and grabbed the bug's head. He threw the bug to the ToxEn. After that Bulkhead grabbed Hardshell's head and shoved his face to the green rock.

"Do you want a taste of this?! DO YA?!" Bulkhead growled dangerously.

Bulkhead had an idea to swat two flies at one strike. He hammered Hardshell with his ball to the edge of molten lava.

"CATCH!"

Bulkhead threw the ToxEn to Hardshell. The rock then pushed Hardshell backward, into the lava. The green Wrecker came forward, and saw the ToxEn was melting on the hot lava.

"Fowler…mission accomplished," Bulkhead whispered weakly, "But you may have to tuck me in."

* * *

"Raf, open a bridge! NOW!" Fowler roared.

There was no time to spare.

The green portal opened, and Bulkhead staggered his way to it. He would go home, and had Aria treated him over, as always.

But unbeknownst to him, Hardshell was still alive. The bug climbed out of the lava, and shot a fire to Bulkhead's back. With that, Bulkhead was sent flying back to the base, with his back smoking. And, he lost consciousness at once.

"NO!" Ratchet gasped in horror. The others ran to him, but Bulkhead wasn't showing any sign of life.

* * *

Review please :3


	23. True Desire of Helios

**AriaChronos is here, thank you for sparing your time to watch my fic. The response I got wasn't exactly like what I expected though. I got many views but too little reviews. Because of that, I started to feel like my story isn't worthy enough. You know, I take writing seriously because it's my dream job. **

**So ladies and gentlemen, if you happen to stop by, please leave something to write in the comment box. If you have any feedback, that is. You know, I can't continue writing if no one is reviewing. If the review column is still empty, I will consider a rewrite for all my TFP White Energon sequels. **

**Thank you very much. **

* * *

"_Sometimes you build a wall not to keep people out, but to see who is strong enough to break through it"_

* * *

Megatron already dispatched the teams for the four coordinates, and there was only one left.

"Helios, the fifth set of coordinates will be your task," Megatron ordered.

"Yes, Lord Megatron," Helios bowed down.

"And make sure you do not fail me yet again this time, youngling," Megatron threatened.

* * *

As Ratchet disappeared through the GroundBridge, Optimus then turned to his daughter. "Aria, prepare for your departure for the fifth set of coordinates."

"Yes sir!" Aria saluted eagerly.

"You are heading to Pyreness mountain," Raf announced.

"Advance with utmost precaution, my dear," Optimus advised. It was really against his will to deploy his daughter all alone, but they were short of numbers.

"Will do," Aria winked to her father.

* * *

Aria exited the portal, and arrived at the icy mountain.

"Phew, this place is rather cold..." Aria remarked. Regardless, she wasn't affected that much by temperature. "Okay now, for the relic...dude, do I really have to do the scavenge hunt in this mountain?" she stared at how big the Pyrenees mountain was. The girl then swiped out her scanner, and started looking. "Raf, I already in the place, very huge place. Can you guide me to the exact location?"

"_You need to triangulate the coordinates. But, you are in the right position, Aria."_

"Oh good," Aria said, as she climbed down to lower mountain platform. "Let's try with the lower side first..." then, the girl journeyed through the icy mountain.

"Young girl, what are you doing up here?"

Aria spun around to find a middle aged man standing behind her. Judging by his appearance, he must be a local. "Uh sir, well..." Aria stuttered when trying to make a reason.

"This is not the right place for you, especially your body isn't insulated agains the cold," the man then handed Aria his wooly coat.

"Ah no thanks, I'm all good, Mr..." Aria trailed off.

"Sebastian," the man answered.

"Ah Mr. Sebastian, I'm from United States...in middle of research, for..." the ponytail scratched her head.

"Are you looking for the excavation site of the Gold?" Sebastian asked.

"Excavation site of the gold? There's gold mine in this mountain?" Aria frowned in confusion.

"No, not that kind of gold, but something that fell from the sky, about two decades ago, in this mountain," Sebastian said.

"Really?!" the girl immediately knew that it was the relic. "Where is it?!"

"I can show you the place where we found it. Follow me," Sebastian then guided Aria to the lower region.

There was a very big hole in the lower region of mountain, and surrounded by yellow ropes. It indicated that the place had been dug up before. And whatever was there previously, already being removed.

"Aw, too bad..." Aria moaned. "Say, what kind of thing did they find here...?"

"Well, according to my grandfather, it was a giant capsule, covered with gold. We're talking about the color, not the actual thing. Because that capsule wasn't made of any material found on Earth. We considered it as a thing from alien," Sebastian explained further.

"Ow, then where is that thing now?" Aria asked further.

"It was in Kurt private museum in Tenerife island."

"KURT?! Not them again..." Aria face palmed themselves. "Why that thing ended up in them?"

"Couldn't be helped, it was them who sponsored the excavation back then. Because the thing was gleaming in gold, the head family of the Kurt kept it as their family treasure. And as I said, they stored it inside their private museum, near their vacation house," the man explained.

"...Well, thank you for the information, Mr. Sebastian. I think I will take my excuse now," Aria decided to leave.

"Oh my, how polite you are, young señorita. Just like the young boy I met before..." Sebastian mused.

"Young boy?"

"Yeah, a boy at same age as you. Brown spiky hair, and dressed in black as well. Kinda quiet and mysterious but..." Sebastian trailed off.

Aria widened her eyes as she realized who it was. "Helios...?" she gasped out. "And don't tell me you told him the same thing?! About the golden capsule stuff?!"

"Uh yeah, since he was looking for the same thing..." Sebastian answered nervously.

Aria realized that the situation just got more complicated. Not only that the relic was removed, but also Helios was targeting the same thing. And not to mention, the relic was stored in Helios' family's place. Immediately, Aria dashed to search a safe place to contact the base. "Raf, we have emergency! Reopen the GroundBridge!"

_"This is Fowler, Raf is rather busy right now. What is it, finished already with the treasure hunt?" _

"Agent Fowler, good! No, it's not good...it's rather long story. But the thing is, the relic had been taken long time ago, by humans. And it's now stored in Kurt's private museum in Tenerife," Aria explained.

_"That rich noble again?! Deja vu much...huh?"_

"Yeah, I know. I already didn't want to deal with them again, but..." Aria sighed in defeat.

_"I can call the authority to confiscate the relic..."_

"Well, first of all, I want to check if the relic is really there. If I can identify what kind of device it is, we can make some good plan for use," Aria ended the argument. "So, change course of action. I'm heading to Tenerife. Reopen the GroundBridge."

* * *

Meanwhile, Helios was flying in mid air, heading to Tenerife as well. He flew directly from Pyrenees to Tenerife. He was pretty surprised to hear that his family got the possession of the Cybertronian relic. However, they might not know if it was a thing belonged to giant alien robots.

One thing that Helios was certain, he was going to encounter some of his family members, perhaps...

* * *

Aria bridged back to base, then bridged again directly to the vacation house of the Kurts in Tenerife. The vacation house was located in mountain area. Aria exited the portal in the woods, and she came view of the vacation house immediately.

"Okay, time to do some sneaking," Aria exited the jungle, then jumped off the enclosed fence of the house. As expected from the wealthy noble, the villa itself was very huge and luxury. It was three stories high, with a big porch directed to beach view, very big yard and large swimming pool at the side. Aria admired the luxury villa for a while, before start searching for the said private museum.

Wasn't too difficult to locate it, since there was another building beside the villa itself. The building was decorated in Victorian style, and placed on the edge of a ravine. Aria made her way carefully to the said building, and after quick check, made sure that no one inside. Aria managed to get inside through the upper window.

"Wow...!" Aria gaped at the interior. So many artifacts and art pieces were displayed inside. But one certain thing attracted Aria's attention. A gigantic golden capsule, sitting in middle of the room, covered in glass case. Aria widened her eyes in horror as she saw it. "Uh-oh, this is not good. Agent Fowler!"

"_Aria, what is it?"_ Fowler asked. "_You find the thing?"_

"Yeah, in front of me. It is Omega Bomb..." Aria muttered in disbelief.

* * *

"Omega what?" Fowler asked in confusion.

_"This thing is too huge, I will require backup..."_

_"Base, we have a problem,"_ it was Bulkhead calling in.

"Hold on Aria," Fowler said before switching. "Bulkhead, what is it?"

_"Wait Agent...!" _*beep beep beep*

* * *

"Oh my, what should I do now...?" Aria grunted in annoyance. She then decided to take a closer look on the bomb. So, the ponytail inched closer to the glass display. Aria touched it with her hand, and much to her shock an alarm went off.

_BEEP BEEP BEEP_

"Great, security measure...? I start to hate rich nobles...!" Aria muttered as she searched for hiding place.

"Who is in here?!" in mere minutes, Alfredo stormed to the museum, with rifle ready on his hand. But as he scanned the room, no one was there.

Because Aria hid by hanging and lining herself with ceiling beams. She was quite surprised that Alfredo was in Tenerife and not in wheelchair anymore. But much to her relief, Alfredo didn't notice her on the ceiling, and was about to leave. Until, he was sent flying backward by a fist.

And that fist, came from Helios. He already arrived there.

"Oh no...!" Aria gasped out in horror.

As soon as Helios saw Alfredo, he instantly burned with anger and revenge. The boy walked toward his father who was bruising on his face.

"You...Adrian...?" Alfredo's face was like seeing a ghost. No surprise, his long lost son was there. And in the pretty much same appearance from 10 years ago, no change at all in age. Alfredo already thought that he was dreaming.

"Glad you remember me..." Helios hissed dangerously. "Then you must remember of what you've done...to Cassandra!" the boy grabbed Alfredo's collar, and threw him with sheer power. The man crashed down into statues and glass cases.

Aria couldn't believe of what she witnessed. Helios/Adrian was pounding his own father into oblivion. And by the beating, Aria bet Alfredo already suffered from breaking bones.

"You have to apologize to her, directly...! And, perish...!" Helios walked to the half-conscious man, brought out his cannon, and aimed it to the wealthy man's head.

"NO!" Aria couldn't watch anymore, so she leapt down. Aria popped out her wheels, smacked Helios and crashed him to the wall paintings. The girl did a quick check on Alfredo. Much to her relief, he was unconscious, but alive. However, blood flowed from his mouth.

"You...!" Helios freed himself from the pile of paintings, and stared at Aria with death. "Stay out of my way."

"Which one? The relic, or this Mr. Emperor of Armageddon?" Aria pointed to the Omega Bomb, then to Alfredo. "I won't let you for either, though."

* * *

Pretty soon, fight broke between the halves, and spread to the main villa. Thankfully, there was no one around the property. Aria and Helios exchanged blows on the garden for quite a time. Both of them were equally matched. Eventually, Helios punched Aria and sent her crashing into nearby fountain.

"I said, stay out of my business!" the vermillion Decepticon barked out. He deployed his cannon and shot it to Aria.

"Only if I don't have to follow main protocol," Aria quickly leapt out to avoid it, and the white blast left very big crate on the ground. The girl then decided to transform to Autobot mode and charged forward. Helios too, did the same, and the fight continued on. "I can't let you kill that man, Helios."

"What is it between you and him?!" Helios asked as he backed down.

"No, nothing. Trust me, even I want to put some nice bruises on that jerk old man's face," Aria argued. "The thing is you. I don't want you to do something that you will regret afterward."

"He killed Cassandra!" Helios snapped.

"I thought it was leukemia?" Aria inquired.

"Yeah, and it was so severe. My dad didn't think she was going to make it, and so he stopped the treatment! He said that it was a waste of money!" Helios explained with anger. "A WASTE OF MONEY! She was his child, what is with 'a waste of money'?!"

Aria couldn't contain her horror after hearing that. Alfredo killed his own daughter because he valued money over her. Aria reflected back to her own sister, Arianna. Arianna was killed by Aria's human father. Much to her surprise, there was so much thing that she and he shared in common.

"He threw us like a trash. Now, he should know who's the real trash...!" Helios hissed dangerously.

"No, you can't!" Aria said firmly. "Revenge won't bring back those we have lost, Adrian. Do you really think that by taking revenge you can feel better?! He's your own father remember?!"

"The day Cassandra died, that was the end of me. My dad robbed everything from me, my life, my time, and my happiness! EVERYTHING!" the half Decepticon cried in desperation. His anger voice was mixed with sadness. "Cassandra was the only one who loved me, understood me, accepted me. I couldn't live without her!"

"You can't say something like that...!" Aria yelled.

"Don't speak like you know all about me! How do you possibly know about how I feel?!" Helios screeched.

"Right, I don't know! I have no childhood memory like you, so I have no idea how it feels like! But because of that, there's one thing that I strongly believed in!" the sea-green femme paused. "You can't just rely on your past to continue your life. Adrian, I know how sad it is to lose someone you loved so much. But you have to move on!"

"Move on huh? Then tell me, how is it possible when nobody wants you?!" Helios snarled. "My own family didn't want me, even Megatron would surely throw me away if I was not armed. How can you live when nobody wants to accept you?"

"Why don't you accept yourself?" Aria asked.

That question struck Helios like a strong thunderbolt. "What...?"

"Being accepted, that's what you really want, right? Not revenge or anything else..." Aria sighed. "I know what you feel, because I once had the same thinking. Both of us were forced to be something that we didn't want to. But, we still haven't lost ourselves. Adrian, don't you want to live as yourself, in peace and happiness?"

Helios didn't answer, he was reflecting back to his past. His entire life was dedicated for somebody else. As Adrian Kurt, he was trusted with inheritance as the family's heir. As Helios, he was trusted by Megatron as his most powerful asset. Helios finally felt that something was really off.

"I've been in this Cybertronian war business far longer than you have. So I can guarantee, you won't get any single peace if living with them. However, if you're sure that it's your path..." Aria unsheathed her blades. "Then come here and face me now!"

But not for long, a GroundBridge opened, but it was from the Nemesis. As Aria spun around, Soundwave exited it, with Resonance Blaster on his hand. Without warning, he fired it to the sea green femme. Aria let out pained scream as the powerful sound waves attacked her processor. In seconds, the girl dropped unconscious on the ground.

"Helios, what took you so long, boy?" Knock Out was accompanying Soundwave. "You know better than making Lord Megatron waiting. Come on, let's just pick the package and go back."

Helios himself was rather irritated, his private business was once again being interrupted.

* * *

"_Lord Megatron,"_ Knock Out contacted the warship. "_We come into sight with the relic. It's...Omega Bomb..." _

"Omega Bomb?!" Megatron widened his eyes, but then he changed into very evil grin. "A weapon that could devastate one planet with one explosion. It will be a waste if we let this to fall into the Autobots' hand. Prepare the ship for rendezvous!" he ordered in instant.

* * *

When Aria came to, the Nemesis was already on their head. Much to Aria's horror, the Omega Bomb was being lifted together with Helios, Knock Out, and Soundwave.

"No...!" Aria whispered in horror when the lift was closed on the ship. She knew better than to let Megatron got the Omega Bomb. It would be ultimate disaster. And so, Aria took the chance to jump onto the ship's spire when it was still low on the ground. She clung into it when the ship slowly went higher. Aria tried to climb her way to the ship's interior.

But her action didn't went unnoticed by Megatron. The footage of Aria climbing the ship was being played by Soundwave.

"Aria, I expect no less from you..." Megatron commented.

"I'd suggest we shake her off before she can reach the Omega Bomb..." Knock Out suggested.

"She already went this far to get the bomb. It will be a shame if I do not give proper welcoming for the daughter of my archenemy," the Decepticon leader already got another plan.

"Let me guess, we're going to welcome her aboard but not seeing her off...?" Knock Out got the hint. "And we're going to wait for her father to come with some gifts, or in this case, ransom?"

"Exactly. She could come handy for me. Helios, bring me Aria, intact," Megatron ordered. But, Helios wasn't moving from his position. "What are you waiting for? Move now!"

"Yes," Helios nodded and he walked away.

* * *

Aria was standing on top of the roof, when Helios jumped and landed in front of her.

"Oh, great...!" Aria muttered, she didn't expect Megatron to find her that fast. Last time Optimus and Bulkhead managed to climb onto the warship unnoticed. Aria began to think that she was after all, still a rookie. But, she didn't intent to back off. "Stay out of my way."

"That should be my line," Helios replied. "Leave this ship now."

"No, I'm not leaving without that Omega Bomb," Aria said. "If you're not gonna move away, I will make you to!"

Aria charged forward, trying to knock Helios away with her fist. But, her fist was just caught by the vermillion boy. Without warning, Helios extended his blade and stabbed Aria right in the stomach. Aria widened her eyes as the blade went through from the front to the back of her belly.

* * *

"That's not the part of the plan, I think..." Knock Out observed to Soundwave's visor.

Megatron too, saw what Helios had done. And clearly, the Decepticon leader wasn't pleased. He already ordered Helios to get the girl in perfect shape.

* * *

Aria clutched her stomach in pain, and her legs trailed backward until she reached the edge of the ship's roof. The sea green femme fell on her knees, and she groaned in pain. White energon flowed out of her wound.

"You leave me no choice. If you're not leaving, then I will make you to," Helios muttered.

The half Decepticon walked closer to the girl. In one swift motion, Helios pushed Aria away. He watched as the girl plummeted back to the Earth. Helios knew just how dangerous it was to go against Megatron's order, even worse, aiding the enemy. But, he didn't want Megatron to get what he wanted. Helios clenched his fist, although he was rather scared, he was bit relieved. For the first time ever, he made a decision on his own.

* * *

"WHAT?!" Megatron roared in disbelief. Instead of bringing Aria, Helios just threw her away. Megatron's chance to use Aria as hostage was lost, thanks to his White Cybertronian. "Helios, what is in your sick mind?!"

* * *

"Ouch..." Aria groaned in pain as she crashed down back to the ground. She still couldn't believe what just happened. Helios seemed like he wanted to kill her. But, something wasn't just right by the way Helios looked at her.

Minor things aside, Aria knew that she was losing energon fast. She had to get treatment soon, or her life would be in danger.

"_Optimus to Aria, do you read?" _but before Aria could call, Optimus called her first.

"Father...? Yeah, I copy..." Aria replied with weak voice.

"_Get back to the base now. Bulkhead is in crisis, and we need your assistance,"_ Optimus said.

"What...?!" Aria was alarmed, and she jerked her body in surprise. But that caused her wound to ache even more. "Good call, father...because...I also...need a ride home..."

"_Aria...are you injured...?"_ Optimus asked in worry.

"A bit...I may require some assistance..." Aria struggled to stand up while clutching her stomach at same time.

Seconds later, the GroundBridge opened. Optimus stepped out of it, and he was shocked to find Aria in that condition. He knew instantly that his daughter was gravely injured, and it pained the Prime to see her in such condition. Optimus immediately rushed to aid Aria.

"Aria, what happened?" Optimus asked.

"The relic, it's Omega Bomb..." Aria told him with weak voice.

Optimus once again widened his eyes, Omega Bomb?! He knew how devastating that weapon was.

"And...they got it. I failed, I'm so sorry..." Aria hung her head low.

"Blaming yourself would not get you anywhere, my dear. You need emergency treatment, that is our current priority," Optimus said when he hauled Aria up and carried her back to base. For Optimus, his people's lives were far important than anything.

* * *

But the same thing couldn't be said for Megatron. He was in fury.

"Helios, did you realize WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?!" Megatron roared.

"The thing I believed to be the best. I thought eradicating the Autobots was our top priority?" Helios replied back.

"Taking matters into your hand is so unwise, Helios. My order was clear, bring that girl to me! But you failed, or rather, abandoned my order!" Megatron scolded. "You live to serve me, Helios. That is why you have to follow my exact command!"

"You order, I take action. And I think, the action is just up to me," Helios argued back. "After all, I am the one in the field, not you."

"What is this? You dare to challenge my authority?" Megatron frowned, sensing a betrayal.

"No, just thinking the best option," Helios replied.

"I noticed that you have been hanging out with that girl for quite a time. Well, this is not the first time my soldiers failed on my quest. If you were intending on terminating that girl, perhaps I can accept your excuse," Megatron inched closer to Helios' eyes.

Helios was speechless, and Megatron could read the doubt and hesitation on Helios' eyes. Megatron could easily tell who was lying and who wasn't.

"Or, you were helping her out? To escape my grasp?" Megatron added.

That statement made Helios widening his eyes.

Megatron knew it, Helios wasn't only abandoning his order. The boy also helped out the enemy, preventing Aria from being taken hostage. And Megatron didn't tolerate any kind of rebellion. So, Megatron smacked Helios as hard as possible, sending him crashing to the wall.

"You are quite young. But you are brave enough to go against me, Helios," Megatron commented. "And you should already know, for what will happen to those who make such attempt."

Helios was on his knees, and he coughed out white energon. "Then...just go ahead..." he choked out.

Megatron just let out an evil laugh. "As much as I want to, a White is just too precious to be killed off. Cybertronian like you is so hard to get in recent times. I will make exception just this once. You are going to stay, and serve me for the rest of your life."

"Don't think that's gonna suit me..." Helios objected. He didn't want to be ordered around by anybody, that was just enough.

"Oh it will be, Helios. I will make you to, your way or my way," Megatron glared at Helios.

* * *

Oh my, do I kinda mess up? Because I felt like my story fell out of the readers' favor. :( Perhaps I will do a rewrite. Reviews are welcomed.


	24. Hurt

_"Our prime purpose in this life is to help others. And if you can't help them, at least don't hurt them"_

_Dalai Lama_

* * *

"How is this POSSIBLE?!" Megatron scolded his relic hunters, Hardshell, Knock Out, Dreadwing and Soundwave, but no sign of Helios, "Five relics each within our grasp! And yet only Soundwave and Helios had returned with something other than an excuse! Tell me, Hardshell. What is yours?"

"I have none, my lord," Hardshell confessed as he bowed to his master, "We failed to retrieve the ToxEn. But the green Autobot has been terminated."

"Then perhaps this day is not lost after all," Megatron mused.

"If that is true!" Knock Out cut in, "It has been a while since anyone extinguished an Autobot spark!"

"Because it has been a while since an Insecticon warrior has had to opportunity to do so!" Hardshell retorted.

"Really?" Knock Out drawled disbelievingly, "The bug under my recent command was utterly useless!"

"ENOUGH!" Megatron snapped,"Hardshell, are you certain that the Autobot known as Bulkhead has been exterminated?"

"By my very own hand, Lord Megatron," Hardshell boasted proudly.

"Very well," Megatron gave his rare excuse. "Knock Out, how is our patient?"

"Patient? Oh, if you mean _him,_ well, I'm in middle of working with him..." Knock Out stuttered.

"Then get back to your lab and be done with it!" Megatron roared.

* * *

Optimus carried his daughter carefully while applying pressure to Aria's stab wound. When Aria got back to base, she didn't expect to see it. Bulkhead was lying motionless on the metal berth, surrounded by the Autobots. Miko was clutching her knees on the platform. Aria and Miko were rather close, so Aria could tell immediately that something was very wrong.

"BULK!" Aria jerked, but Optimus held her tight.

Aria's voice caught attention of everybody, especially Ratchet. The medic rushed and gasped to see Aria was stabbed in her belly.

"Aria, you are..." Ratchet trailed. "Who did this to you?"

"Never mind! What happened to Bulkhead?!" Aria demanded.

"It was ToxEn exposure," Ratchet answered.

"ToxEn...you mean that green foggy crystal, very poisonous and deadly?!" Aria summed, she had the information of ToxEn in Arianna's memory. "Are you serious?!"

"ARIA!" Miko dashed from the platform. "You gotta help Bulkhead! Your white energon can heal him with single injection, right...?!"

"Aria is critically injured by now," Ratchet said as he swooped Aria from Optimus' hands. "Besides, Bulkhead's internal damage is way too severe. One injection from white energon isn't going to make it."

"No way...!" Miko stuttered in disbelief.

"If that's what Bulkhead need to recover, then so be it!" Aria protested when Ratchet put her on another berth. "Just take my energon!"

"There will be a medical procedure for it, Aria. You have to recover first, then Bulkhead..." Ratchet began.

"Bulkhead is in more critical condition!" Miko screamed out. Her stress level was at the peak.

"Let her be, Ratch..." Aria sighed sadly. She didn't blame Miko for her outburst. Instead, Aria blamed herself for her inability.

Ratchet worked on patching Aria when watching for Bulkhead's condition at the same time. As a CMO, he sure knew what he was doing.

"Yes, sir," Fowler sighed before hanging his phone and turning to face Optimus, "Turns out highlights of your Big Apple adventure got caught on security tape. The Pentagon needs me to run interference with the mayor. I tried to stall. But…"

"Go where you're needed, Agent Fowler. There is nothing more you can do for Bulkhead at this time," Optimus replied politely.

"Keep me posted, Prime. I mean it," then Fowler left the base using elevator.

"Wheeljack's on his way," Arcee told the group.

"I can't believe you're giving up on Bulkhead already!" Miko snapped.

"All I meant is that Bulkhead and Wheeljack are close. I thought he'd want to be here," Arcee reasoned.

"We know what you meant," Miko snapped when she walked to the elevator as well.

"Where are you going?" Optimus asked worriedly.

"Home, while Fowler can still give me a lift," Miko answered as the she left.

Arcee immediately went to go after her, but Optimus held her back.

"She needs time," was all Optimus said.

"It was all my fault..." Aria let out a long sigh.

"Aria, do not blame yourself for something you didn't do," Optimus advised.

"No, if only I didn't get myself injured this time..." Aria replied sadly.

"By the way, who did this to you?" Arcee asked. "Let me guess, that boy? For some reason, you're like magnetized to him."

"You got that right, Miss Arcee. We met, again. Fought, again. Me being defeated...again," Aria grumbled a little bit. "Not to mention, I let the Decepticons got the Omega Bomb..."

"OMEGA BOMB?!" Ratchet gasped in horror.

_Seriously?! _Bumblebee bleeped in panic.

"Scrap...!" Arcee face-palmed herself.

They all knew just how deadly that bomb was. Back in the wars day, they secured the item tightly because they couldn't afford the Decepticons got their hand to it.

"Aria, that bomb is..." Ratchet tried to explain.

"A bomb that is capable on destroying one whole planet in single explosion, I know it Ratchet," Aria cut short the explanation. "Helios was holding me back, but he wasn't the cause of me losing the Omega Bomb. Because the back up of Decepticons immediately arrived, and overpowered me. Luckily, the Decepticon warship came to pick up the bomb, so I took the chance to climb onto it and..."

"You climbed onto the Decepticon warship?" Optimus cut in. He couldn't believe his daughter even attempted such dangerous action.

"Girl, I told you that is dangerous!" Arcee added.

"I know, I just know now. Because immediately Helios found me, and sent me good bye even before I entered the ship. This was the result, altogether with 1000 feet free fall..." Aria pointed to her already-patched stab wound. "It was all my fault..."

"My dear, losing the relic is another thing, but I do not want you to put yourself at risk," Optimus advised.

"But I already put the entire planet on risk, father," Aria objected. "Now, if Megatron wants to destroy us together with Earth, he has the mean to do it."

* * *

"Bulkhead is stable for the moment, but I've had to induce stasis," Ratchet announced after hours of treatment.

Then, they heard a car engine speeding inside the base. It was Wheeljack.

"What's the damage, doc?" Wheeljack asked directly.

"Bulkhead suffered massive trauma to his central neural conduit," Ratchet answered.

"I've watched you work. You're a maestro," Wheeljack complimented. "And that girl over there, you have the all-purpose medicine that can heal anything in one astro-second."

"The ToxEn exposure has caused system-wide shutdown on a submichronic level. The white energon treatment will not make it with only one or two doses. But until his condition stabilized, we cannot proceed with it. I can't even begin to operate until he gains some strength," Ratchet explained.

"You gonna tell me who did this to him?" Wheeljack immediately asked Optimus.

"At the moment, I believe it is best to focus our attention on Bulkhead's recovery, rather than revenge," Optimus argued.

"You do that," Wheeljack growled as he transformed and drove away.

"Wheeljack will most likely do something rash, you know," Ratchet warned Optimus.

"And I bet we won't like it..." Aria added.

"And I'm not sure we could stop him if we wanted to," Optimus noted.

* * *

The Autobots knew a little about Wreckers, but they did know who Wheeljack was. He was on mission, taking revenge for his partner. Wheeljack was piloting Jackhammer when he heard some noises. Alerted, he deployed his cannon and whirled around, only to find Miko there.

"What are you doing here?" Wheeljack asked.

"Going after the 'Con who hurt Bulkhead," Miko answered, "You in?"

"I'm taking you back," Wheeljack decided as he went to turn around.

"No! Wait!" Miko pleaded.

"Look. I get it. You want payback. You and me both," Wheeljack said.

"Bulkhead was my partner too!" Miko reminded him when she climbed onto passenger seat.

"You weren't the only partner he ever had. Trust me, When I find out which one of Megatron's goons jumped our boy, I'll take care of him my way," Wheeljack referred to his 'Wrecker Style with Grenade', as he held up his grenade.

"I know who did it," Miko announced.

"Who?" Wheeljack immediately demanded.

"Take me and I'll tell you," Miko bargained.

And for Wheeljack, the bargain was too precious to let go.

* * *

"You should have seen the Wrecker's face when his spark expired, knowing that he perished at the hands of a true warrior," Hardshell boasted to other Insecticons as they strolled hall of the warship, "Lord Megatron now understands that the most difficult tasks are best assigned to an Insecticon!"

They passed through two Vehicons. And for everybody's note, not all Decepticons were buddy-buddy. Especially between Vehicons and Insecticons. The two Vehicons murmured to each other.

"Pit-bound scavengers."

"Scrap eaters."

"What did you say?!" Hardshell snapped in anger.

* * *

Inside med-bay, Knock Out was little busy. Helios was lying on the metal berth, in induced stasis. Megatron ordered the red medic to work on some 'improvement' on the boy.

"Okay, the rebooting will be in minutes, but now..." Knock Out then reached for his buffing equipment. He hadn't had the single chance to erase all the scratches on his body. But, there were some parts that he was having difficulty to reach. "Detailing was so much easier when Breakdown was around," Knock Out then heard explosion sound outside "What is going on out there?! How am I supposed to concentrate...AAAAAAHHH!"

When he opened the door to check it, one Vehicon was sent flying and crashing to him. The brawl continued, to the part when Hardshell charged forward, the remaining Vehicon dodged, and Hardshell crashed to Knock Out instead.

"I JUST BUFFED THAT!" Knock Out shrieked in anger, as his cosmetic damage got even worse.

* * *

"Okay, that's all," Ratchet said when he gave his final examination on Aria. "Careful with your movement. Your wound is quite deep. If you are careless, the patch would be opened again before completely healed."

"I know. Don't worry, I heal fast," Aria reassured. "How's Bulkhead?"

"Still no change," Ratchet glanced briefly to the comatose Wrecker.

"Bulkhead is tough, he will go through this just like always. I strongly believed in him," Arcee reassured when she put her hand on Aria's shoulder.

"Yeah, he won't give up that easy," Aria merely said, then, she sighed heavily again. The day just turned into the worse. Aria decided to talk with Optimus. Only Optimus who could bring some comfort into the girl. The ponytail walked to the monitor, since Optimus was in charge of monitor duty when Ratchet was attending Bulkhead. "Father..."

"My sweetspark, how is your injury?" Optimus asked.

"Fine. Listen, I..." Aria began.

"Losing the Omega Bomb is not the lost cause for us," Optimus cut in, he knew what his daughter was about to say. "Do not blame yourself."

"Still, if only I could do better. I was there, and Helios was too. Just when I finally reached him, I lost him again," Aria explained.

That caught Optimus' attention. "What do you mean, Aria?"

"You see, he's just like me. He wants to be accepted by someone. Someone who accepts him no matter of who he is," the half Autobot explained. "I once felt the same way. And that was when you saved me." Aria walked closer, and touched Optimus' leg affectionally.

"I only did what I could," Optimus bent down to the floor. "In fact, it was you who saved my heart, from emptiness and loneliness."

Aria just smiled. She was really glad to have him as her father.

"Then again, Helios suffers much more than I do. I wish I can do better, but..." Aria trailed off. "I still don't know what to do. That boy is stubborn."

"I too, know that Helios is not a Decepticon by heart, despite the fact he was fused with Decepticon," Optimus replied. "Being Decepticon is a choice, not destiny. Helios is still young, and has many chances to change."

"He does have the options, father," Aria reflected back. "And once he makes up his mind, I don't think our next meeting will be this easy. I know, he's very determined for whatever path he might choose. And, there's almost nothing I can do about it."

* * *

Meanwhile, Miko and Wheeljack made their way into Decepticon mine.

"You know where to find Decepticon mines?" Miko said.

"You seriously don't think I've been sitting on my cans since I got on this rock," Wheeljack stated.

"Shouldn't we be hitting an Insecticon hive?" Miko asked again.

"The bugs are bound by a single mind. Trying to draw just one of them out would be impossible. So we're going to make some noise," Wheeljack smirked.

"And get the 'Cons to hand over Hardshell," Miko summed up.

"Now you can sneak in and scope the place out a whole lot better than I can," Wheeljack smirked.

That being said, Miko snuck into the Decepticon mine. She wasn't the type of girl who hesitated to go to enemy territory. Miko sent the footage of the mine to Wheeljack's computer.

"We've got five, maybe six, troopers in the main cavern," Miko observed quietly, "And two more keeping an eye on things from the second floor."

"_Good job, kid. Keep going._"

"There's another chamber," Miko reported more, "Looks like it's a storage chamber. They're not mining anything from here."

But no response from the other side.

"Wheeljack! You there?!"

Her response was..._KABOOM_

Wheeljack stormed into the mine at once. He thrashed all the miners and drones like rag dolls. And, it was rather a bad idea for Miko to stand in middle of the battlefield. Thankfully, all the blasts and flying Cons just passed through her head. In no time, the mine was clear.

"Now what?" Miko asked.

"We give Megatron a shout," Wheeljack smirked.

* * *

And in Nemesis, things were bit heated up, between Knock Out and Insecticon.

"Just look what they've done!" Knock Out snarled as he gestured to his scratched up body.

"Spare me the dramatics, Knock Out," Megatron sighed in frustration, "It's merely a scratch."

"This isn't about me, Lord Megatron! The Insecticons are creating distension among the ranks! These savages are a threat to this warship and its crew! They should be confined! Restrained, even!" Knock Out snapped.

"You could not produce strong enough restraints to hold us!" Hardshell retorted.

"Lord Megatron, we're receiving an emergency transmission from Energon Mine TVC 15," a Vehicon announced.

"What seems to be the problem?" Megatron wanted to know.

"Unclear, my liege. The caller will speak only to you," the Vehicon answered as Megatron approached the computer.

"What is it?" Megatron demanded as he answered the incoming call.

"_I've gotta admit, chief. It's a nice operation that you have here. However, if you wanna go technical, you could say it's under new management," _it was Wheeljack's voice.

"Wheeljack, the Wrecker who enjoys explosives?" Megatron inquired.

"_What can I say, chief? I'm out on a bout. But right now, I'm sitting on top of your juicy mining ops._"

"The loss of one asset is hardly a blow to the Decepticon cause," Megatron merely said.

"That may be so. But you guys have Energon mines worldwide. And I'm gonna keep hitting them. One by one._Unless you give us what we want._"

"And what would that be?" Megatron asked dryly.

"_The Insecticon scum who tried to frag my partner, Hardshell. _"

"Tried?!" Megatron then snapped, "Are you saying the Autobot lives?!"

"He is bluffing!" Hardshell protested.

"_I hardly bluff, you pit-bound scum. Here's how it's going to go down. I will transmit the coordinates of my next target. If Hardshell cares to meet me there, maybe he can save you from losing another asset._ Oh, in case you were wondering what three tons of exploding Energon sounds like..."

Wheeljack pressed a button to launch his missiles, to the energon mine. And... _KABOOOM_

"The choice is up to you. _Allow another Energon mine to be blown sky high. Or have Hardshell face the harsh reality. I'll be waiting at the coordinates of our next target. If Hardshell is a no-show…well, I think you know what would happen._"

"You allowed the Autobot TO LIVE?!" Megatron roared at Hardshell in anger.

"Hmph. Bugs! Not all they cracked up to be," Knock Out finally found one more reason to restrain the Insecticons.

"Lord Megatron! I swear upon the AllSpark the Autobot could not have survived his wounds!" Hardshell defended.

"You owe me a spark! And if it's not the one belonging to Bulkhead, it had better be Wheeljack's!" Megatron snarled.

* * *

The Jackhammer was flying to the next coordinates. Wheeljack noticed that Miko seemed to be tired.

"Maybe you ought to power down for a while," Wheeljack suggested.

"I'm good," Miko shook her head, trying to keep awake, "He's gonna make it, right?"

"Bulkhead's the toughest wrecking ball I've ever known. Ratchet's a great doc, the best. And you have Aria, she holds the key medicine," Wheeljack reassured his friend.

"Yeah. There's no way Bulkhead would miss all the stuff we have planned. Car sledding. Worldwide smashathon," Miko trailed off, but her voice went thin.

"Bulkhead's too stubborn not to pull through. I know it, and I bet you do too," Wheeljack smirked. But when he looked to Miko, the girl already fell asleep on her knees.

Then few hours later, the Jackhammer landed. The shake caused Miko to wake up in instant.

"I'm up!" Miko stated. "What's the plan?"

"If anything happens to me, press this button. I've preprogrammed the autopilot to take you back to Prime's base," Wheeljack announced as he pointed to the blue button.

"What?! No way! We had a deal! You said I could help!" Miko protested.

"And you did. But it ends here," Wheeljack proclaimed as he stood up. "Sorry kid. But Bulkhead's gonna wake up. And he'll file off my rubies if you aren't there when he does," Wheeljack ended the argument.

"WHEELJACK!" Miko yelled.

* * *

"You in there, bug?!" Wheeljack yelled into the mine.

Hardshell was there, but not inside the mine. He was above the mine, and when Wheeljack came into sight, he launched down. Wheeljack drove backward to dodge it, transformed and double-stomped Hardshell. Wheeljack attempted to throw a grenade, but Hardshell charged forward and knocked the grenade together with the white Wrecker. Then, Hardshell kicked Wheeljack even more.

"Thanks to your crippled friend, I am all too familiar with your Wrecker moves," Hardshell stated.

The bug tried to punch Wheeljack, but the Wrecker jumped backward. Wheeljack unsheathed his two blades, and charged forward. Let the battle began. Wheeljack, fueled by anger and revenge, gained upper hand over Hardshell.

"What's the matter, Hardshell? Not used to fighting a robot who hasn't been doused with ToxEn?!" Wheeljack snarled.

At the next strike, Hardshell grabbed his sword. "Talk during battle is a sign of weakness."

"Only when you're too primitive to do two things at once!" Wheeljack retorted.

At least, Hardshell managed to separate Wheeljack from his katanas. Hardshell transformed and tackled Wheeljack like bowling pin.

"GO FOR THE GRENADE!" Miko called from the Jackhammer.

Wheeljack crawled his way to the lying grenade, but Hardshell knew better than letting the Wrecker with the grenade. With one strike, the bug destroyed the grenade. Hardshell proceeded to strike on Wheeljack, which was dodged. Hardshell was powerful, no doubt about it. Now, the bug gained the upper hand and thrashed Wheeljack like rag doll.

"WHEELJACK!" Miko screamed in horror.

Wheeljack was too badly injured. As Hardshell walked toward him, Wheeljack knew it might be his end. Too bad, he was unable to take revenge on Bulkhead, as he was taken down by pretty much same enemy.

"Go...kid..." at least, Wheeljack knew to keep the girl out of harm's way. Or else, Bulkhead was going to hate him forever.

Miko didn't want to leave Wheeljack, but she didn't have much choice. If she didn't leave, Hardshell would go after her after Wheeljack was finished. Miko hesitantly walked to the cockpit, when Hardshell was prepared to deliver the killing blow. Miko was about to hit the autopilot, but then she got another idea.

"Your spark will now belong to Megatron," Hardshell vowed as he raised his hand to strike.

But the sound of Jackhammer powering up distracted him. He watched as the ship hovered in mid-air, and fired two missiles. The missiles struck Hardshell and killed him in instant. Wheeljack stood up, he couldn't believe of what just happened. That girl had some guts in her.

"Nice work, kid," Wheeljack praised.

But Wheeljack had to realize that the Insecticons would never travel alone. He heard familiar buzzing, and on the top of the cliff was a swarm of Insecticons.

"WHEELJACK! RUN!" Miko screamed as loud as she could.

Wheeljack limped his way back to the Jackhammer when the swarm started to attack.

"I thought I told you to hit autopilot," Wheeljack said when he was back on the cockpit.

"Bad things happen to bots when I leave their side," was all Miko said.

Jackhammer took off, but with the shooting Insecticons hot on pursuit. Wheeljack knew, he had to do something or they would chase the ship all the way to the Autobot base.

"Too many to pick off," Wheeljack observed. "We need something with a wider blast radius."

Wheeljack activated the autopilot and went to open a box full of grenades.

"I thought..." Miko asked in disbelief.

"I only carry one at a time," Wheeljack finished.

The Wrecker climbed to the hatch opening. He was about to throw one grenade, but he got even better idea. Wheeljack threw the whole box to the Insecticon swarm, and opened fire to it.

_KABOOM_

One huge blast, one huge killing. Wheeljack managed to thwart the swarm, at least.

"Welcome to the Wreckers, kid. You did Bulkhead proud," Wheeljack smiled happily when he returned to the cockpit.

"Then why don't I feel any different?" Miko asked with sad voice.

She should feel satisfied, now that she made Hardshell pay for what he had done. However, it just hurt even deeper.

* * *

"No words from Miko yet?" Aria asked worriedly.

Then her question was answered when Wheeljack and Miko returned to base. Wheeljack dragged his injured body, when Miko was...not good at all. They all knew, something they didn't like had happened.

"Miko, you alright?" Arcee asked softly to the pigtail.

"She's fine. Kid's pro," Wheeljack replied back.

"I wasn't talking to you!" the blue bike snapped harshly.

"You took Miko for that revenge errand? DID you realize what you've!" Aria added.

"Don't blame Wheeljack. It was all my choice," Miko cut in. Then, she turned her attention to Ratchet. "How is he?"

"Bulkhead will survive. He may never be fully functional again," Ratchet answered sadly.

Without hesitation, Miko ran to Bulkhead's bedside.

"Miko, I don't think it's wise to..." Ratchet was about to stop her. But Optimus held him back instead.

"I'm…I'm not sure I wanna see Bulkhead right now. Not like this," Wheeljack shook his head before transforming into his vehicle form and drove away.

"I'm never leaving you again, Bulkhead..." Miko sobbed quietly on Bulkhead's comatose body.

* * *

I deeply apologized for my inability to arrange things. But, review please :3


	25. Out of the Past

_"Every saint has a past and every sinner has a future"_

_Oscar Wilde_

* * *

_It was the Nemesis, roaming around the galaxy. Starscream was standing in the command center, when the drones brought him Arcee, being chained with energon chain. _

"_They said it couldn't be done. The one called Arcee is too quick. Too stealthy to be captured. Well, here you are, with a rare opportunity to make history," Starscream smirked, "You see, I have intercepted this encrypted Autobot signal. And if it's encrypted, it must be important. Decode it for me and I will see to it that you perish quickly."_

_It took more than mere threat for Arcee to break her spirit. _

"_Speak up. I can't hear you over your whimpering," Starscream sneered._

_"Get fragged," Arcee growled._

_Starscream gaped for a few moments before recovering his footing and cackling, "Perhaps you will be more inclined to operate when it's not your wellbeing at stake."_

_Another prisoner was brought in. It was Cliffjumper._

"_Arcee. Been a while," Cliffjumper noted. _

"_Give me the code for the encryption! Or I will add your comrade Cliffjumper to the multitude of fallen Autobots below!" Starscream threatened._

"_Scrap him. I barely know the guy," Arcee replied. _

"_Ouch! Got enough of the sensitive side?!" Cliffjumper responded. _

"_Cybertron is little more than a graveyard now. GIVE ME THE CODE!" Starscream snapped._

"_I'm not afraid of you, Starscream. You're no Megatron," Arcee snarled._

_And it snapped Starscream's last string. He raised his hand to strike and..._

* * *

Well, that was the flashback of Arcee, who witnessed Bulkhead and Miko in middle of the therapy. A therapy for Bulkhead to recover back, that was. But Bulkhead, barely made any progress, as his legs just refused to work.

"Three steps, Bulkhead?! That's all you can manage?!" Miko said in disbelief.

"I'm sorry, Miko. My legs still hurt," Bulkhead moaned.

Bulkhead was way, way too far from full recovery.

"What did I tell you?" Miko asked.

"No excuses," Bulkhead sighed.

"Exactly. Try again. Ten steps this time," Miko instructed.

"I hope the decoding of the Iacon Database is going more smoothly than Bulkhead's recovery," Ratchet remarked as he approached Optimus who was working on the Iacon database. Aria was sitting on the railing platform, watching her father working. And to be honest, she was impressed.

"Slow, but steady, old friend," Optimus reported, his optics never leaving the large screen.

"Human technology," Ratchet noted with a scoff.

"Watch it Ratch. You should remember that the 'human technology' managed to build this product," Aria said as she pointed to herself, but she got a glance from Optimus. "Alright father, I won't bring it up."

"But your expertise should provide the edge we need to beat the Decepticons at this game," Ratchet stated.

"I fear their access to Cybertronian technology will provide them with equal advantage," Optimus replied.

"So, this will be 'early bird gets the worm' all over again..." Aria commented.

Then another thud of Bulkhead tumbling echoed.

"Not good enough! You have to come back stronger than before!" Miko urged the green bot.

"Time for a break, Bulkhead," Ratchet walked in to help Bulkhead get up.

"A break?! YOU THINK THE 'CONS ARE GOING TO GIVE BULKHEAD A BREAK IN THE MIDDLE OF A FIREFIGHT?!" Miko exclaimed in disbelief.

"If you push a patient too far and too fast, you risk exasperating their injures," Ratchet explained.

"But...!" Miko began to protest.

"No but, Miko. Bulkhead needs his rest. And besides, it's already time for his medicine," Aria said, she walked forward and brought up her syringe. "Once every 4 hours, it's the schedule to maintain."

Miko was very upset. "GET OUT OF MY WAY!" she snapped at Bumblebee who just rolled in the base.

Arcee witnessed the whole thing, and she knew she had to do something.

* * *

Miko sat all alone in the cliff, watching the sunset.

"Miko," Arcee came by.

"Oh, er, hey, Arcee," Miko greeted quickly as she wiped the tears from her face, "I was just…"

"Aren't we a little too close to the edge?" Arcee asked.

"Heights don't scare me," Miko muttered.

"Bulkhead's coming along just fine. Thanks mostly to your efforts," Arcee reassured her.

"No offence. But I came up here for some privacy," Miko cut in.

"I understand what you're going through. If you ever want someone to talk to…," Arcee trailed off.

"I'm fine, OK?! I'm not the one Hardshell tried to scrap!" Miko snapped.

"It's rough when someone you love gets hurt, but..." Arcee began, "Closing yourself off from feeling won't help anyone."

"Well, you would know, wouldn't you?!" Miko scoffed.

"Yes, I would," Arcee admitted.

That was when Miko remembered it. Cliffjumper, Arcee's deceased partner. Arcee was in way, way worse experience than Miko.

"Arcee, I'm sorry! I didn't mean that!" Miko immediately apologized.

"It's OK," Arcee reassured her ,"Cliffjumper's…been on my mind lately. After I lost my first partner Tailgate, I pushed everyone away. Until Cliff came along."

"What was he like?" Miko asked.

"Cliff was…quite the conversationalist," Arcee recalled.

* * *

_The drones threw Cliffjumper into the brig, where Arcee was. _

"_Cliffjumper, are you…?" Arcee asked worriedly._

"_I…I can't…I can't believe you actually care," Cliffjumper smirked. _

"_The only thing I care about is whether you talked just now," Arcee scoffed as she allowed Cliffjumper to stand._

"_You always this nice to your rescuers?" Cliffjumper asked dryly as he walked around rotating his arms. Then, he walked to check if the brig had escape patch._

_"You didn't answer my question," Arcee inquired. _

"_I got bored with Starscream's little workout. So I idled my engines and faked shutdown. Scream bought it," Cliffjumper shrugged casually._

"_How did you wind up here?" Arcee asked again. _

_"Intercepted some chatter about a Decepticon operation near our old home planet. So I followed the trail and saw Starscream shipping massive amounts of energon to this place. What's your story?" Cliffjumper asked._

"_Same," Arcee muttered._

_"You're quite a conversationalist," Cliffjumper noted. _

* * *

"_I've tried every interrogation technique and NOTHING IS WORKING!" Starscream snarled in frustration, "I would just eliminate them. But the code they carry is too valuable. If only I could break them open and just take it!"_

_Soundwave had the idea of his own, he pointed to a tall building on the Cybertron. _

_"No! I will not take the prisoners to the surface! Why should I let him have all the glory? Besides, the last time I saw him, he seemed to need some privacy," Starscream objected immediately. _

"_The code they carry is too valuable," Soundwave played again Starscream's voice clip.  
_

_"Alright, since I must deliver the energon to him anyway," Starscream gave up._

* * *

_And so, the Decepticons moved to the surface with the cargos. The energon, and the prisoners. _

_"So this is Kaon, huh? Love what you Decepticons have done with the place," Cliffjumper joked, "The ruins are certainly…picturesque."_

"_SILENCE!" Starscream snapped, already annoyed with Cliffjumper's constant chattering. Well, as if Starscream wasn't a conversationalist himself. _

_They entered a room with metal slabs, and a table full of tools. Tools for torture, to be exact. And Starscream was famous for his 'interrogation method', the entire Decepticons to be exact. _

"_That's not a good sign," Cliffjumper remarked, sarcastically. _

"_Since I could not compel you to surrender the encryption code, I'm forced to introduce you to someone whose methods are a little more…persuasive," Starscream smirked deviously._

_The two Autobots whirled around as they heard loud footsteps from the entrance. Then, in no time, Shockwave presented himself. And he was famous as the Decepticon scientist, but it was just a name of few. He was famous for his illegal but deadly experiments, which always gave the Decepticons the edge to turn the table. _

"_We may be in a little more trouble than I thought," Cliffjumper stated the obvious._

"_Autobots, say hello to Shockwave," Starscream introduced._

_With that, Arcee and Cliffjumper were strapped to two separate slabs. _

_"Delivering a mountain of energon, intercepting an encrypted Autobot communicate and capturing two key prisoners is impressive. I admit. But Lord Megatron expects nothing less from his first lieu...!" Starscream trailed off, " By the way Shockwave, I was wondering of one thing. I thought, you needed a little break from your job. I know that you had a recent loss of your..."_

_"It happened several stellar ago. That is a minor case that you don't need to know, Starscream," replied Shockwave. As another faceless Con, it was hard to read his expression. _

_"Oh, pardon me for asking your private thing. __I should let you work, right? No doubt you are trying to concentrate, carry on," Starscream relented. _

_Having what he wanted, Shockwave grabbed a purple tentacle like device. Arcee and Cliffjumper knew what it was, a Cortical Psychic Patch. No doubt that the two Autobots wouldn't escape from this one. Shockwave plugged one side to his own processor. Arcee slipped out her pink wrist metal, and tried to cut off her bind. _

_"Er, Shockwave, are you certain that you can extract the decryption code without first nullifying our subject's neural net?" Starscream inquired._

"_I invented the Cortical Psychic Patch. I am familiar with our idiosyncrasy," Shockwave answered._

"_Of course you are," Starscream chuckled nervously._

_Shockwave moved to Arcee with the other end of the patch. _

_"Keep that thing away from me, you one-eyed freak!" Arcee exclaimed as she struggled even more. _

_"Leave her alone! Use it on me!" Cliffjumper pleaded._

"_Do not worry. If her mind does not survive the procedure, you will be next," Shockwave promised._

_Without warning, Shockwave plugged the other end to Arcee's head. Her mind went blank when the code was extracted. _

"_Ah, the code," Starscream sighed happily as he noticed the code on the screens._

_After the code was extracted, Shockwave unplugged Arcee. The blue femme then fell unconscious on the slab. _

"_Arcee! Arcee!" Cliffjumper cried before snarling at Starscream and Shockwave, "I'll scrap you both!"_

_"Shut up! I'm trying to listen!" Starscream snapped as the decrypted message began playing._

"_This is Optimus Prime. To all surviving Autobots who hear this message, I ask you to join me in a remote corner of the galaxy on a small planet rich with energon. I have reason to believe this world will soon become a new target of Decepticon conquest. Our team is small. But strong. Join me at these coordinates so that we might plan our resistance. Safe journeys.__"_

_But, much to Cliffjumper's relief, Arcee was playing possum. She winked to Cliff, before continuing on cutting the bind. _

"_Ah, brilliant! Not only do we know where to find Optimus Prime, but he's begging for help! Now is the time to strike!" Starscream proclaimed._

"_You are no longer of use," Shockwave said to Cliffjumper as he aimed his blaster at Cliffjumper's face, preparing of disposing him. _

"_Hey, Scream. Curious. You always let other 'Cons do your dirty work?" Cliffjumper asked cheekily._

_Starscream got the bait eventually, "Shockwave! You've already disposed of one of my prisoners! Cliffjumper is mine."_

"_Your reasoning is hardly logical," Shockwave noted, "Indulge yourself."_

_With that, Shockwave left the lab. _

"_What do you think, Cliffjumper?" Starscream asked as he reached for a staff prod, "Plenty to choose from here. Shall we go with precise dissection? Or blunt force?"_

"_Your choice, Scream. Whatever you pick, I'm just gonna use it on you," Cliffjumper merely commented. _

"_Very well. Why don't we do this the old-fashioned way?" Starscream suggested. His choice: his own claw. So, Starscream raised his claw, prepared to strike. _

_Arcee jumped him from behind and pounced on. She kicked Starscream and bind him to the slab. _

"_NO! NO!" Starscream struggled. He was in big trouble. _

_"Thanks for the save," Cliffjumper said as Arcee released him. _

"_Your turn, Starscream. What is with all the energon?" Arcee demanded._

_"As if I would tell you!" Starscream sneered._

_"Talk! Or you're a science experiment! I'm not kidding!" Arcee threatened as she went for the equipment on the table. _

_"You should probably tell us something. I'm not sure how long I can hold her back," Cliffjumper warned cheekily. _

"_I'm no expert on this. But I know one slipup can fry a neural net," Arcee warned as she held up the cortical psychic patch._

_"Shockwave! He's the one you want! He's building a SpaceBridge below Kaon!" Starscream relented. _

_"Impossible! SpaceBridge technology has been lost for megacycles!" Arcee noted. _

"_And yet he managed! Shockwave never left Cybertron precisely so he could scavenge parts and reverse SpaceBridge mechanics!" Starscream clarified._

_"And you just delivered all the energon he needs to power it up," Cliffjumper summed up. _

_"Well, it often pains me. I try to be a team player," Starscream chuckled._

_WHAM! One punch from Arcee and Starscream was knocked out cold. _

"_You going somewhere?" Cliffjumper asked._

"_To takedown a Space Bridge," Arcee answered._

"_Without your ol' pal?" Cliffjumper inquired. _

_"This requires stealth. Not chatter," Arcee stated._

_"Oh, you mean the chatter that distracted Starscream long enough for you to free yourself?" Cliffjumper said._

_"__Just don't slow me down," Arcee gave up. _

* * *

_Arcee led the way to the underground tunnel. The place itself was nothing but scrap metals. Well, the entire Cybertron already was. _

"_You know where you're going?" Cliffjumper asked as they raced through the tunnels._

_"My unit used these tunnels during the war. They're part of Old Cybertron," Arcee answered as they began climbing over the bodies of Cybertron's fallen that blocked their path._

_"The sooner we blow this SpaceBridge, the sooner we join up with Optimus Prime," Cliffjumper stated._

_"Give him my regards," Arcee said._

_"Did you not hear Prime's message? He needs us," Cliffjumper remarked._

_"Teamwork hasn't been my thing. So after this, we go our separate ways," Arcee proclaimed._

"_Whatever you say, partner," Cliffjumper shrugged._

_"Let's get one thing straight. You are not my partner!" Arcee snapped. _

_"Arcee, I know it's rough. I really do," Cliffjumper sighed._

_"I don't know what you're talking about," Arcee immediately said as she walked ahead._

_"Tailgate," Cliffjumper gave the point, "Closing yourself off from feeling won't help anyone."_

* * *

"Sounds familiar," Miko remarked.

"Good advice is good advice," Arcee shrugged.

"So…I gotta know. What happened next?" Miko asked eagerly.

* * *

_What happened next, Arcee and Cliffjumper took town all the guards guarding the SpaceBridge. They proceeded to the bridge itself then took cover. _

"_Shockwave's work of art," Arcee observed._

_"Already fuelled and ready to rip," Cliffjumper noted, "Arcee, look familiar?" He pointed to the screen, with coordinates on the map._

"_The coordinates Optimus provided. They're being used to target the Space Bridge!" Arcee said. _

"_Which means the 'Cons will ambush Optimus before any other Autobot reinforcements can get there," Cliffjumper realized._

_"If the 'Cons scorch Optimus, the war's as good as over," Arcee pointed out._

"_We can fix that," Cliffjumper smirked as he deployed his blaster. _

"_No. We don't have the ordinance to blow up the SpaceBridge," Arcee reminded him, "We'll have to sabotage the control systems."_

"_What about the access? You're just gonna walk up and ask for permission?" Cliffjumper asked dryly._

"_No. You are," Arcee corrected with a smirk._

_Well, here was the plan. _

_"Er, excuse me?! I got separated from the tour group! Does anyone know where I can find the Decepticon base?" Cliffjumper asked as he walked down the ramp casually. _

_The Vehicons deployed their weapons to corner the uninvited Autobot. _

_"Whoa! Didn't Commander Starscream tell ya?! I'm on your side now!" Cliffjumper began to rant, "That coward Optimus Prime turned tail and ran! Left the rest of all us Autobots to fend for ourselves! So much for comradely, huh? Figured I'd rather be on the winning team. So I took Starscream's offer. Imagine the look on Prime's face when it starts raining Decepticons! Me with them! Really! I know all about Starscream's plan! We can all get along now!"_

_Arcee took the distraction to sabotage the control for the SpaceBridge. Meanwhile, Cliffjumper was giving all of his storage, when the Vehicons suddenly stood dutifully. _

_"There's…someone behind me, isn't there?" Cliffjumper was right, he whirled around to face Shockwave._

"_Only Starscream could fail at disposing a helpless captive," Shockwave scoffed as he prepared for a fight._

_Then, there was crackling and electric sounds from the SpaceBridge. _

"_Er…is it supposed to sound like that?" Cliffjumper asked._

_Shockwave tossed Cliffjumper aside and threw Arcee away from the control. Arcee rolled and hung herself from dropping to the lower ramp. _

_"Interloper!" Shockwave exclaimed, "You have overridden the rnergon containment protocols, haven't you?! Clever. But not irreversible."_

_The Vehicons began to raid Cliffjumper, but the red mech thwarted them aside. Then, he shot at the keyboard, eventually preventing Shockwave from doing his work. Cliffjumer began to battle the one-eye Con. But Shockwave was proven to be tough not only inside the laboratory. Shockwave punched and threw Cliffjumper like thousand tons. Then, two drones came by and aimed their weapons to the mech's head._

_Thankfully, Arcee shot them before they could hurt Cliffjumper. Soon, the reinforcement arrived, but it took more than that to defeat the mighty blue femme. As Arcee already defeated all the drones, she saw that Shockwave was aiming his cannon to Cliffjumper. _

"_There is more than one way to nullify a neural net," Shockwave pointed out._

"_Not this time," Arcee snarled._

_She shot at the ceiling above Shockwave and Cliffjumper, making it collapse. Cliffjumper managed to escape, Shockwave was buried under the rubbles. _

"_Cliff?" Arcee began worriedly as she helped him up._

_"I knew you cared," Cliffjumper smirked._

"_It appears Shockwave's arrogance was his undoing," Starscream remarked as he came by with two Vehicons, "DESTROY THEM!"  
_

_Arcee and Cliffjumper took cover behind the rubble, but the drones didn't stop firing at them. _

_"Autobots, whatever you did to the SpaceBridge, UNDO IT! NOW!" Starscream ordered. _

"_They__ should really stop shooting at us if they wanna help," Cliffjumper remarked dryly before he and Arcee ducked as a shot almost hit them in the head, "Seeing as how our exit is blocked and we have an open SpaceBridge portal currently set for Prime's location… You with me?"_

_Cliffjumper offered his hand. Arcee stared at it, and she knew that it was time for her to move on. To move on from the past that kept locking her in her own prison. So, Arcee took Cliffjumper's hand. _

_"The Space Bridge! IT'S GOING TO BLOW!" Starscream screamed as he ran out of the room like the true coward he is._

_Without thinking twice, Arcee and Cliffjumper raced through the Space Bridge. But the portal itself was overloading quickly, and about to blow up at any time. So, the two Autobots ran as fast as they could to reach the exit before the bridge exploded. _

_However, Shockwave was pursuing, and he shot his cannon to stop the duo in their track. _

"_GIVE HIM EVERYTHING YOU'VE GOT!" Cliffjumper shouted as they opened fire._

_Shockwave fired his cannon and made the duo tumbling backward. Cliff was apparently down, but Arcee got her strength to stand. She stood protectively in front of her partner. Shockwave fired another blast. Arcee moved her head to dodge it, and fired a direct score to Shockwave's eye. _

"_BULL'S EYE!" Cliffjumper praised as they continued running._

_Finally, as they got out, and landed on Earth, the SpaceBridge exploded with Shockwave in it. _

"_You think Shockwave survived?" Arcee asked._

_"Hope so. I want a rematch. Then again, I hope that he would be reunited with his...whoever. You heard they talked, right?" Cliffjumper joked as Arcee stood up._

_"Let's find Optimus…partner," Arcee called as she extended her hand._

_Cliffjumper was rather glad for the turnout. He accepted the hand and stood up. _

"_Rich with energon, huh? I hope the entire rock doesn't look like this. Reminds me of the time I was lost in the Sea of Rust back on Cybertron. Except I was separated from my unit with absolutely no one to talk to," Cliffjumper recalled._

_"Or talk at?" _

_"Admit it. You love the company!" Cliffjumper laughed._

* * *

"Funny, just as I think I could never get used to Cliffjumper's constant chatter," Arcee chuckled slightly, "Now, there's nothing louder to me than the silence." The blue bike went silent as she reflected back to the time.

Miko finally knew what Arcee had been through. She felt like cursing herself because she let her emotion took control of her. Miko placed her hand over Arcee's hand for some comfort. Arcee was surprised, but then both of the girls exchanged smiles.

Unbeknownst to them, Aria was watching from far away, with a smile on her face.

"That is why I love you so much, Miss Arcee," Aria remarked, when she turned her attention to Cliffjumper's memorial. "You have the best partner, Cliff," the ponytail made a remark. But then, she reflected to her own self. "...Partner, huh...?"

Aria was always wondering, what was it like to have a partner? A partner who was as equal as her, and completely understood her inside out.


	26. New Recruit

_"Recession is when a neighbor loses his job. Depression is when you lose yours"_

_Ronald Reagan_

* * *

Raf and Jack were in their usual errand, browsing conspiracy website to see if there was any sighting of the Autobots. And true, camera loved Bumblebee.

"Removing Bee and replacing him with…"

Raf replaced the image of Bumblebee with tap dancing monkey. A masterpiece from 12 year old boy.

"The tap dancing monkey strikes again," Jack noted.

"Bumblebee's sightings on the world wide web are no laughing matter!" Ratchet said.

"Take a chill pill, Ratch," Aria reassured.

"Seven… Eight… Nine…," Miko counted as she and Bulkhead did a yoga move. For Bulkhead, it was rather painful therapy.

"Why can't I just drive from now on?" Bulkhead asked.

"Because your legs will atrophy if you don't use them!" Ratchet immediately answered.

"One… Two… Three…," Miko began counting again.

"Wait, what's that?" Jack asked when they hit a photo of meteor.

Raf zoomed the photo, and Aria immediately recognized what it was.

"It's Cybertronian escape pod!" Aria gasped.

With that, everyone's attentions were brought on.

"Here in Earth's atmosphere?!" Ratchet exclaimed in surprise.

Raf immediately transferred the image to bigger screen.

"Autobot or Decepticon?" Arcee asked.

"Impossible to tell given the image resolution," Ratchet sighed.

"In any event, this merits investigation," Optimus noted.

"Could be a trap," Arcee stated, "And we're down one bot."

"Time for calling Wheeljack again?" Aria suggested.

"I can hear you!" Bulkhead called out.

"I don't care if Bulkhead isn't combat ready! After that revenge stunt he pulled with Miko, Wheeljack can stay rogue!" Ratchet objected.

"An Autobot may be in distress. Ratchet, bring your medical kit," Optimus instructed.

* * *

They arrived at the location, with Arcee, Aria and Bumblebee acted as front guard. It didn't take too long to locate the pod, as it lied in front of them, leaking energon from its engine. When Arcee dusted off the pod, it revealed Decepticon symbol.

"It is of Decepticon origin," Optimus noted.

"And the 'Con inside blew his way out," Arcee pointed out.

"You sure it was a Decepticon? I mean..." Aria trailed off.

But her words were cut short by the blaster fire from Vehicons. And the Insecticons also joined the ambush, much to the Autobots' dismay. They didn't need to be told twice; fight back. Soon, the firing battle ensued.

"All those Decepticons came out of one pod?!" Arcee said in disbelief.

"Humans refer to the phenonema as clown car!" Ratchet answered.

One bug bot charged in beast mode, transformed, and fought with Optimus. Optimus moved forward to kill more enemies, and clear the area immediately.

"Ratchet, you should take cover!" Aria advised when she fired her white cannon from behind rocks.

"I would not be scrapped with..." Ratchet moved forward with his knife, but one Insecticon slammed him to rock.

The Insecticon prepared to strike the shocked Ratchet, thankfully Arcee launched to intercept. The blue femme and Bumblebee shot down the bug bot. Aria also came out of her hiding. She activated her rollerblades, launched directly to the Vehicon group.

Then a second later, another blaster came in. One unknown mech moved on the trees behind them, when shooting at the Vehicons at the same time. Arcee and Bumblebee reacted by aiming their weapons to the mech, as they didn't know who it was.

"Incoming!" Arcee warned.

"Down in front!" the bot just leapt to the front and provided more firepower to thwart the Decepticons.

"Who is he?" Aria asked aloud. Then, she sensed something from the newcomer, and Aria really wanted to know why she felt that way.

The newcomer continued to shoot. He managed to take down few drones, but one of his blasts hit the energon pool. Pretty soon, the energon pool ignited up, and the pod's engine was in verge of blowing up.

"FALL BACK!" Optimus ordered.

All of them retreated as far as they could, and took cover behind rocks. Aria immediately casted her force field to shield her team better. It was just in time, the pod exploded with loud bang. When they looked at the damage, all the Vehicons were blasted in pieces.

"WHOO! OUTSTANDING! TOO HOT FOR YOU, 'CONS?!" the newcomer yelled victoriously.

"Friend of yours?" Ratchet asked Bumblebee and Arcee.

"Never seen him before," Arcee shrugged.

"Torching that energon leak. Pretty good plan, right?" the stranger said.

"Except that it wasn't your plan," Arcee pointed out, "It was a random shot that almost fried us to a crisp!"

"Worked out, didn't it?" he retorted.

"Yeah, but it worked out thanks for our nice luck for not being fried as well," Aria added.

"Thank you, fellow Autobot," Optimus thanked at the newcomer, "Your valor is to be commended."

"I…don't believe it!" the newcomer just stuttered in disbelief. "You're Optimus Prime!" he cried excitedly before turning to the others, "He's Optimus Prime!"

"Yeah, we know," Arcee said.

"What's your designation, soldier?" Optimus asked.

"Smokescreen, sir!" Smokescreen answered as he saluted to Optimus.

"Welcome to Earth, Smokescreen," Optimus offered his hand to be shook.

"It's an honor to be here," Smokescreen shook hands with the Prime. "Especially with you!"

"Now what?" Ratchet spoke up, "It's not like we can just bring him back to base."

"Wouldn't be the first time an ally turned out to be a plant," Arcee pointed out.

"Right, you told me about that event with Wheeljack," Aria added.

"I see you received your training from Cybertron's Elite Guard," Optimus observed the special Autobot insignia on Smokescreen's door wing.

"Yeah but, it wasn't much more than a boot camp by the time I joined. I never even got a proper graduation ceremony!" Smokescreen explained.

"There was a war going on," Arcee stated dryly.

"Hey! All I ever wanted was to be a soldier. To serve the Autobot cause. But what I got was security detail at Iacon," Smokescreen grumbled.

"The Hall of Records...?" Aria asked.

"Of all places," Ratchet muttered before turning to his leader, "Optimus, do you not find this highly suspicious?"

"Smokescreen, what was your assignment inside the hall?" Optimus inquired.

"Guarding Alpha Trion during what turned out to be the final few days of the war," the blue bot answered.

"You served under the master archivist?" Optimus said in amazement.

"I wasn't thrilled at first. Watching the back of an old bot instead of kicking 'Con tailpipe!" Smokescreen grumbled.

Optimus gave Smokescreen a look. Aria also didn't look very pleased with Smokescreen's insult.

"Watch your words, Smoke. The one you're talking about was a Prime and my father's mentor..." Aria warned.

"YOUR FATHER?!" Smokescreen cut in disbelief. "You're Optimus Prime's daughter. Wow, I can't believe it...!"

"Yeah, yeah, everybody doesn't believe he has a daughter..." Aria made a remark, referred to Optimus' secrecy about his own family.

"Then, you must be Arianna!" the blue bot said, which made everyone widened their eyes in shock.

"How did you know?" Aria asked, curious.

"Alpha Trion apparently told me that Optimus Prime had a daughter, named Arianna. Oh well, he ordered me to keep it secret though..." Smokescreen rubbed his helmet. "I always wondered what Optimus' daughter looked like. To think I can ever met the one named Arianna here as well..."

"I'm not Arianna. My name is Aria," Aria corrected. "Arianna was my sister."

"Was...?" Smokescreen inquired.

"She already passed away," Aria sighed sadly.

"Oh...I'm sorry to hear that. But the Big A turned out to be a good teacher and a true friend. I mean, he was the one who made you a Prime."

Optimus knew that the secret of his Prime status was only be known to few. Alpha Trion knew it better. Optimus held his mentor in high regard, that was why Optimus let him to know about his family.

"Rafael, activate the GroundBridge," Optimus instructed over the commlink, convinced enough.

"That's it?" Arcee said in disbelief, "That's all you need to hear before inviting him to the party?!"

"If my former mentor shared this information, it is because he considered Smokescreen a trusted ally. Trusted enough to be told of my family secret," Optimus pointed out.

"Yeah, I don't think we should worry about that," Aria said as she took a step closer to Smokescreen. "Though, for safety measure, I have to do body check on you, Smokescreen."

"Well, go ahead. I can assure you I don't bring explosives for bombing suicide," Smokescreen relented.

"Not that kind of body check," Aria merely touched Smokescreen's body.

Suddenly, the newcomer's body glowed bright white. His chest plate snapped open. A jewel with four wings then emerged from his chesplate, and flew to Aria's waiting hand.

"Wait, what was that flying out from my chest...?!" the blue and white bot asked in confusion.

"Heart of Wisdom?" Optimus asked.

"Belonged to Alpha Trion," Aria clarified.

"Alpha Trion's jewel? How come this guy has it?" Arcee asked her suspicion.

"Because Alpha Trion himself stored his Heart in him. Rest assure, guys. This guy is the real deal. Alpha Trion even entrusted his Heart to Smokescreen anyway," Aria reassured his teammates.

* * *

"We haven't had someone new here since Wheeljack! What's your story, Smoke? Where did you come from? How did you get here? How many blasters are you packing?!" Miko asked eagerly, to the stammered Smokescreen.

"So these are the life forms we're supposed to protect?" Smokescreen asked before turning to Ratchet, "Are they all like this?"

"Fortunately not. But I, too, share Miko's fascination on how you came to arrive on Earth," Ratchet admitted.

"In a Decepticon escape pod," Arcee noted.

"You've still got trust issues, huh? Tough crowd!" Smokescreen remarked.

"Well, if you had been through of what they had, you wouldn't say such thing," Aria noted.

"Hey, who are you...?" Smokescreen asked to the tiny, ponytail girl.

"I am Aria! I just introduced myself to you, remember?" Aria asked back, before realizing, "Oh right, you haven't seen my alternate form."

"Well, not in that kind of form...what just happened?! Where's the cute little femme with sea-green armor?!" Smokescreen asked in disbelief.

"It's me. Long story, but you have to tell yours first, Smoke," Aria argued.

"The main press of combat operations were at least 20 klicks from the Hall of Records. So things had been pretty quiet. But the situation went downhill fast.

The 'Cons launched a massive surge that wiped out the last line of defenses surrounding Iacon. I was the only thing left to hold them back. And let me tell ya! I was pumped! I mean, this was my chance to see real action for the first time! To prove myself! …Until everything went black.

The 'Cons took me as prisoner and dumped me on a transport ship. But I managed to give the guard a slip and hop into an escape pod. Apparently, it was a long distance pod, because it knocked me into stasis. Next thing I knew, I'm hitting solid ground. Hard." Smokescreen ended the story.

"The Decepticon warship must have picked up the escape pod's beacon and guided it to Earth," Ratchet surmised.

"Which would explain Smokescreen's welcoming committee," Arcee piped in, "Bet those 'Cons weren't happy about not finding one of their own inside?"

"Smokescreen, do you know of Alpha Trion's fate after the fall of Iacon?" Optimus asked further.

"I wish I did. But that was the last I ever saw of him," Smokescreen sighed sadly. "So that's it. My life story. Not exactly the glory I envisioned for myself…until now! Being here with Optimus Prime! I knew I was destined for great things! I mean, now that you have help, how hard can it be to end this war?!"

Suddenly they heard a groan and dragging sound from the hallway. Bulkhead dragged his legs and limped to the command center, much to Smokescreen's shock.

"Take a good look, newbie. This is how hard," Bulkhead snarled.

"Think about it, Smoke. Not that I doubt my own father's ability, but if it was that easy to make a happy ending, we already did so long time ago," Aria noted dryly.

"Smokescreen, I would suggest that you take the time to get acclimated to your new surroundings. A tour of the base would be an excellent start," Optimus suggested.

"Sure thing!" Miko said eagerly, but when Bulkhead sighed sadly, she changed her mind immediately, "I mean, Jack here offers a very informative tour!"

"I'll come with," Aria suggested.

* * *

"This is what humans call the Information Superhighway?!" Starscream grunted when he browsed through world wide web of human, "A trillion megabytes of data and none of it's useful?!"

Then he came across the tap dancing monkey image.

"Though some oddly engrossing," Starscream chuckled before noticing a picture with red crystal on the excavation site, "What is this...? Ignorant life forms have no idea what they've uncovered! Red Energon! If I can possess its power, not only will I be stronger! But also, faster! Significantly faster!"

* * *

"Phase shifter, spark extractor, immobilizer, hologram projector," Jack explained.

"You see, Smoke. This is where we store the Cybertronian relics that we find buried on Earth. And talk about a small universe. Because most of them came from…" Aria trailed off.

"The Iacon Hall of Records," Smokescreen finished as he looked into the vault with the phase shifter, "I remember these."

"Glad to know someone else besides my father and Alpha Trion treated the Hall of Records as more than just storage vault," Aria remarked with a smirk.

"You know this Alpha Trion?" Jack asked.

"Just a little bit. Arianna did meet with Alpha Trion several times. And it was before the war started, or at least so far I've been capable to see," Aria replied.

"Whoa! What kind of relic is she?!" he exclaimed when he stumbled upon Airachnid stasis pod.

"The kind you don't wanna mess with," Jack merely said, not wanting to bring it up.

"And the kind you don't want to give high price tag," Aria hissed.

* * *

"If you wanted to replace me, you should have called Wheeljack!" Bulkhead said to Optimus, "I could have lived with that!"

"No one is replacing you, Bulkhead," Arcee argued, "For one thing, Smokescreen's too green. Even greener than Aria."

"While Bulk's as green as can get!" Miko smirked.

"What Arcee means is Smokescreen still has a great deal to learn," Ratchet corrected.

"So what's with 'under training'? You trained Aria, and whoosh, she was on top. And once you've got him trained, then what?! He's in, I'm a doorstop!" Bulkhead snapped.

"Bulkhead, your place with us is not in jeopardy. But there is no dispute that we have long required additional firepower. It is essential that our team learns to work with our new recruit. Not against him," Optimus advised.

"I hope the hot shot's blasters are as big as his mouth," Bulkhead grumbled, "How hard can it be?"

"Hey, everyone!" Raf called out from the computers, "Check this out!"

"Don't tell me it's another Bumblebee sighting!" Ratchet scoffed, gasped once he saw what image Raf brought in, "Oh my…"

"Red Energon," Optimus rumbled.

"Here?! On Earth?!" Ratchet cried in surprise.

"What's Red Energon?" Raf asked.

"An extremely rare and volatile form of energon, second rarest after white energon. Refined into fuel, it provides the power of hyper speed," Ratchet explained.

"We must have Agent Fowler clear the dig site of all human presence in the event we are not the only ones to have discovered its location," Optimus proclaimed.

"Now you're talking!" Smokescreen cheered as he, Jack and Aria walked into the room, "Let's scramble some 'Con circuits!"

"We're going, you're not, Smoke," Aria cut in.

"My daughter is correct. Given your limited field experience, I believe further training is required before you're battle ready," Optimus argued.

"Optimus, with all due respect…," Smokescreen began to protest.

"Furthermore, we Autobots live on this planet as robots in disguise. You will need to obtain an Earth-based vehicle mode," Optimus told him.

"In order to maintain a low profile," Arcee piped in, "If that's possible for you."

"If you're talking wheels, bring them on!" Smokescreen agreed.

* * *

"THE RED ENERGON IS MINE, HUMANS!" Starscream jumped from GroundBridge with 'alien rockstar' pose, "For you are powerless in the face of the might Star...! What?! Where is it?!"

There was nothing in that place. No humans, no Red Energon.

* * *

Taking Optimus' advise, Smokescreen was looking for fitting vehicle mode in Jasper, accompanied by Jack.

"Nope," Smokescreen shook his head at a white car that had driven past. It was just too simple for the bot's taste.

"How about that one?" Jack suggested as he pointed to a slow-moving truck.

"It's more Ratchet's speed, don't you think?" Smokescreen shook his head.

"Cement truck?" Jack offered.

"Yeah. If I were a Constructicon," Smokescreen scoffed. "Seriously! This is the best your planet has to offer?!"

"No. But this is Jasper," Jack sighed.

"I feel for ya," Smokescreen sighed, small world alright.

* * *

Apparently, the Red Energon was moved away to cargo port. When the Autobots arrived at the location, the red crystals was stashed in metal crate, and being hung very high on crane.

"Fowler couldn't have a crane operator lower the thing?" Arcee said in disbelief.

"The humans must have been preparing to transfer a meteor to a cargo ship when they received his evacuation order," Optimus reasoned.

"Which means, we have to do the work?" Aria grunted in annoyance.

And then, they had company, in form of Starscream.

"Run along home, Autobots!" Starscream yelled, "That Red Energon has my name written all over it!"

Starscream then put the Apex Armor on his chest. Gradually, he got taller and bulkier. And, he was more than prepared to smash.

"And I am more than willing to fight for it," Starscream sneered.

"Secure the Red Energon and have Ratchet bridge it back to base," Optimus instructed.

Aria, Arcee, and Bumblebee moved to climb over the crane, when Optimus engaged Starscream. But the Apex Armor protected Starscream from Optimus' blasts. Optimus resolved to hand combat, and the Prime could pack a punch. But Starscream could pack a thousand tons. With ease, Starscream tossed the Prime to containers.

"Don't tell me you've already forgotten our last encounter, Prime!" Starscream taunted with a smirk.

"Father...!" Aria gasped to see the scene. She really wanted to get down and assist Optimus. It was her duty to protect the Primes.

"Keep moving, you two," Arcee instructed the other two.

With Optimus out of commission, Starscream headed for his prize. The Red Energon which hung on the crane.

* * *

"Optimus, is something wrong?" Ratchet asked Optimus worriedly.

"_Starscream has come for the Red Energon. And I fear he will not be deterred at his quest._"

_"More good news, he has Apex Armor!" _Aria added. "_And he's right behind our tailpipes!" _

"Starscream?!" Smokescreen repeated when he and Jack came back to command center, "I've heard stories about that stiletto-heeled creep back on Cybertron! Send me in, doc!"

"When Optimus requires backup, he will ask for it," Ratchet immediately objected.

"Aw come on! I've got my v-mode and everything! I'm suited up and ready to roll!" Smokescreen protested.

"What part of further training did you not understand?!" Ratchet ended the argument.

Smokescreen sighed, but he was determined. He didn't want to be a second forever, he wanted his chance as a capable warrior in the field.

* * *

"The higher you climb, the higher you fall!" Starscream sneered, he was climbing right behind Bumblebee.

The three Autobots managed to reach the top of the crane, but they had to thwart Starscream somehow. Bumblebee turned around and fired his blasters to Starscream, but those were just bounced off the armor.

"Autobots! Such slow learners!" Starscream cackled.

* * *

"Optimus! What is your status?!" Ratchet got no response from the comm link.

"Ratchet! They need me! I can do this!" Bulkhead demanded. as he limped towards the medic.

"Arcee? Aria?" Ratchet tried the others, earning static in response, "Bumblebee?!"

"Did you hear what I said?!" Bulkhead demanded.

"I heard! And I'm ignoring you! This might be your opportunity after all, Smokescreen!" Ratchet remarked but, "Where are Smokescreen.

* * *

"That's the one," Smokescreen proclaimed.

Smokescreen was standing in the vault holding phase shifter.

"You!" Ratchet called as he approached him, "What in the name of the AllSpark were you doing?!"

* * *

Arcee and Aria were close to the container holding Red Energon. And behind them, Bumblebee kept shooting at Starscream with no result of even holding the latter up. Eventually, Starscream tossed Bumblebee aside. Thankfully, Bumblebee crashed onto second platform of the crane. But Starscream moved on for the females.

"Time to unload some more dead weight," Starscream smirked as he reached down towards Arcee and Aria.

"I take that as; you should watch your own weight!" Aria stood up, deployed her blaster and fired white blasts to Starscream.

Much to Aria's delight, her white blasts at least managed to knock Starscream backward. But all Starscream needed to do was advancing forward. Aria knew she couldn't hold Starscream much longer with simply her blasters, so she casted a force field.

"A great defense is OFFENSE!" Starscream proceeded to punch the force field. With one strike, his hand crashed through it, and he grabbed Aria. "What's this? Not only I get the Red Energon, but also white energon. This is really my lucky day."

"I...think you should guess about that again..." Aria made a remark. With that, the girl transformed back to human mode, eventually resulting in her being freed from Starscream's large hand.

When Starscream turned around, he saw Optimus climbed onto another, taller crane. Then, he jumped and punched Starscream away with all his might. Starscream ended up falling from the crane, and he grabbed onto the metal crate for support, eventually ripping it open. Starscream reached his another hand for the Red Energon. He managed to grab a chunk of it, but then he lost his grip and fell downward.

"NO!"

"The bigger you are, the harder you fall," Aria smirked.

Optimus grabbed the rope to pull the metal crate up. But as he was in middle of doing it, the entire crane shook. When they looked down, Starscream grabbed the base of it, and tilted the crane over.

"Watch your steps, Autobots!" Starscream cackled.

The crane was tilted even more, even Aria lost her balance. Thankfully, Bumblebee caught the ponytail before she could slid and fall down. And before Starscream could flip the crane over, a GroundBridge opened.

"HEY!"

"Huh?!" Starscream hugged in confusion as he turned his head.

It was Smokescreen, in his new alt mode. A white rice car with '38' on the doors.

"Apparently, no one defined 'low profile' for him," Arcee muttered to Bumblebee.

"But I like that," Aria said.

"Oh look! The Autobots have a new recruit!" Starscream smirked.

"And you must be Starscream!" Smokescreen said, "I thought you'd be taller!"

Smokescreen showed utter lack of fear or tension, which made Starscream grunted in irritation. Apparently, youngsters were the big problem in recent days.

"Finally, someone who is in same mind as me!" Aria cheered.

"This will not end well," Arcee remarked.

"Smokescreen! Stand down!" Optimus warned, "You are no match for Starscream's Apex Armor!"

"Any last words, Smokescreen?" Starscream inquired.

"Just four," Smokescreen replied. "KISS YOUR ARMOR GOODBYE!"

Smokescreen activated the phase shifter on his arm, then he launched forward to Starscream. The blue bot launched a kick, but his kick went through the Apex Armor, and hitting the Starscream inside. Eventually, Starscream was out of the armor.

"A phase shifter?!" Starscream gasped in disbelief.

"Now that was a plan!" Smokescreen cheered, and he knocked over the empty armor down.

Starscream knew he was doomed, well, not quite. He had to retreat, as he spotted the small chunk of Red Energon laying on his side. And his motto; never left the enemy with the spoil.

"You aren't the only one sporting a wrist-mounted device!" Starscream aimed his missiles at the crane, "Think fast!"

Aria immediately casted her force field when the missile was launched. The missile completely destroyed the crane. The explosion was huge.

"NO!" Smokescreen cried as he shielded himself from the falling debris.

Smokescreen walked forward to check the damage. He had expected the worse, but much to his surprise, Optimus and the others had survived. It was all thanks to Aria's force field, however Aria took some damage because of it. Her right arm caught small fire.

"Ouch, aw, aw!" Aria cried out in pain when flailing her fiery arm at same time. "That's HOT!"

"You okay?" Arcee asked out in worry.

"Well, yeah," Aria sighed when the flame was put out. "But I'm not as hot as Smoke."

* * *

"I told you I just needed to borrow it for a while!" Smokescreen defended himself, "Doc here thought I was trying to steal your relics."

"Only until you explained your plan, which I then sanctioned. It's called protocol!" Ratchet snapped as he grabbed back the phase shifter.

"Ratchet is correct. Standard procedure must be observed by ever member of this team," Optimus reprimanded, "However, I also believe that we must commend Smokescreen. You have proven to be a quick study by choosing to place strategy above bravado."

"There's going to be no living with him now," Arcee sighed.

"While this may lack the proper pageantry of a proper Elite Guard ceremony, I wish to welcome you to Team Prime!" Optimus announced.

Smokescreen turned to Bumblebee, Arcee, Aria, and Ratchet. That may lack the proper ceremony he always wanted, but somehow it satisfied him more than enough. Finally, he was welcomed as a soldier.

"One more for me to watch for," Aria remarked with a smile. "On the bright side, I get another sparring partner. What do you say, Smoke?"

"Sparring? Now, bring that on, little princess! I already had too much nap, time for some stretching," Smokescreen bashed his fists together.

"Careful. If you're with Aria, it will be more than just stretching," Arcee warned jokingly.

They all went into loud laughter. Miko then heard a grunt of Bulkhead, who watched the scene from the hallway.

"The newbie did alright," Bulkhead sighed sadly as he glanced at the Apex Armor.

"Don't worry, Bulk. He's got nothing on you!" Miko tried to reassure her partner, "Seriously! Once we get that leg of yours back into shape, Old Smokey's gonna learn real quick who's the top wrecking ball around here!"

But Bulkhead just walked back to the corridor. For some reason, the tough Wrecker was rather easy to be broken down, much to Miko's dismay.

* * *

It was already mid-night, and everybody returned to rest. Optimus, Ratchet and Aria were still in command center. Optimus was working on decoding Iacon database, Ratchet was repairing some things, when Aria sat down on the couch, with the Heart of Wisdom hovering in front of her.

It would seem that Aria was doing nothing. But she was communicating with Alpha Trion's spirit through the Heart.

* * *

Who doesn't love Smokescreen? I love him so much! Review please :3


	27. The Foretelling

_"Every man builds his world in his own image. He has the power to choose, but no power to escape the necessity of choice"_

_Ayn Rand_

* * *

There were still too many of Arianna's memory that were still locked on. She reflected back to Arianna's memory that had been unlocked recently, and it was about Alpha Trion.

_It was when Orion brought the little Arianna and Elita to his workplace, the Hall of Records. There, Arianna set her eyes on Alpha Trion, the old mech with beard on his faceplate. _

_"Master, I deeply apologized. But, my family really want to see where I work," Orion said to Alpha Trion._

_"Nice to see you again, Alpha Trion. And I thought, this would be nice opportunity to introduce you to Arianna, our newborn daughter," Elita added, as she cradled her baby on her arms. _

_"Hohoho, it would not be a problem, my student," Alpha Trion reassured. "Now, now, little sparkling. How old is she?" _

_"Just 3 cycles," Orion replied. _

_Alpha Trion gave Arianna throughout observation. For some reason, he had the strangest look, as if he was in deep thought. Alpha Trion was known for his ability to foresee the future. So if he looked at Arianna like that, there would be something. _

_"Well, why don't we give your family and little sparkling a tour around here? Just, be careful, she may turn out playing with datas and documents instead of toys," Alpha Trion then said. _

_"I wouldn't be surprised. She's his daughter after all. My dear Orion is a nerd since the beginning," Elita shrugged off._

_After that, Orion was assigned for some task. Elita left the place just shortly afterward, but Arianna stayed. When Orion was working, Alpha Trion offered to be bot-sitter. Arianna was sitting on the old mech's lap, when the latter showed her some documents that had been decoded and stored. Arianna was still too young to be able to read or understand it, but she was capable of memorizing. So, she recorded every document presented to her memory bank. _

_"Look at this, sweetspark Arianna. Most of these were done by your father. He still has a lot to catch to, but, he has the potential," Alpha Trion looked down to meet Arianna's confused stare. "Haha, I confused you, did I not? Listen to this, little Arianna. I have seen a bright star in your spark. You would become brighter star in the future. The maturer the star, the brighter the star, the closer of it to the end." _

_Arianna tilted her head, indicating that she was completely confused. Alpha Trion just gave her a sympathetic look, before continuing. _

_"However, when a bright star has met its end, another and much brighter star would be born. Keep that in your mind, young lady," Alpha Trion said. "Nothing in this universe would be wasted away without any worth." _

* * *

Aria sighed sadly. She was in trance-like state, with the spirit of Alpha Trion hovering in front of her.

"Arianna was confused at that time, but I bet she finally understood what it meant," Aria said. "You already foresaw it, did you not? Arianna wasn't going to live long."

"_The brightest star always reaches its end first than any other. I never told my student because I did not want to crush his fresh and still young spirit, " _Alpha Trion replied.

"I know..." Aria sighed. "And you already knew that I was going to be created, after Arianna died that was. I expected no less from a Prime who had the ability of foreseeing, though."

_"Primus was already becoming one with Cybertron, and therefore it was his forever resting place. The Saint, however, would not fall into eternal slumber. Her spirit still lived on, and would live on forever. I already predicted the birth of the Saint's heirs and incarnations in the future. One of them, was going to be born after one young lady's demise." _

"It wasn't a nice demise. Not for a daughter of the great and kind Prime..." Aria reflected back. "I never wished to be born, this way or another."

_"The Saint knew of her choices. She would pass the inheritance for someone worthy enough, both outside and inside. You have your own choices, young lady. And you should know it."_

"I already made up my mind. I will travel down that path, and it's my own choice," Aria replied firmly.

"_I trusted The Saint for the wisest of action. And I trusted you for the same thing as well,"_ Alpha Trion smiled a bit. _"All of the Primes, including me were all indebted for our Saint's protection and gentleness. Our spark may be extinguished one day, but our spirits would live on forever. As the form of my gratitude, I bestowed upon this Heart. The ability of seeing through the time. However you wish to use it, it is your own choice, and will be your own consequences, the Fourth White."_

"Thank you, I mean it," Aria replied back.

"_There is one more thing before we depart, The Fourth Incarnation. As with your birth, I also foresaw the birth of the Third White."_

"Helios...? You know about him?" Aria asked in disbelief.

"_The Third has a strong determination, and strong spark. He was inherited by the duty of The Saint. However, there will come the time when he would strand away from the path, willingly or unwillingly."_

"You mean, he would turn against us?" Aria held her head in frustration. "This won't be good..."

_"As I stated before, the choices are up to you. If you want The Third to make his choice, remind him for the spirit that had been passed through his white energon. The duty is a choice, but the inheritance is a destiny which you and he have to accept,"_ Alpha Trion said his last words, and he faded back to the afterlife.

"What is that supposed to mean?" Aria asked in confusion. However, she knew that Alpha Trion wouldn't let anything out bluntly. She would have to find it out herself. But if it was about Helios, she was more than eager to know.

* * *

Meanwhile, on board Nemesis...

"Knock Out! I told you to finish it swiftly!" Megatron scolded his medic.

"My apologies, Lord Megatron. It really took more than I expected. But, I've finished it with no flaw," Knock Out said. "I would give the humans who created this kind of thing, a little bit of the credit. Helios, enter!"

With his command, the said vermilion mech entered the command center. Megatron looked to see if there was any difference after the 'improvement'. There was no expression or word from Helios himself.

"Helios, bow before me," Megatron ordered.

Without protesting, Helios kneeled down, which pleased Megatron.

"Now, for whom you served to?" Megatron asked next.

"I served only for Lord Megatron, and the Decepticon cause," Helios said with flat voice.

"Excellent job, Knock Out," Megatron praised.

"My honor, master. As you can see, the only voice he can hear is yours. And the only action he can take, is your commands," Knock Out boasted proudly.

"You performed admirably," Megatron smirked evilly to the boy before him.

Now, there wouldn't be any resistance from Helios. Because Helios was already stripped out of his abilities to do so. It was as Megatron said before. Helios would work for the Decepticon, his way or Megatron's way.


	28. The Human Factor

_"Happiness resides not in possessions, and not in gold, happiness dwells in the soul"_

_Democritus_

* * *

"This is the place we're using for training. Well, it wasn't much a use, until Aria came. For some reason, she loves sparring," Arcee said to Smokescreen. "Good luck with your further training, hotshot." Arcee waved her hands as she left Smokescreen.

"This will do. Thanks much, Miss Arcee," Smokescreen said.

Arcee stopped in mid track and grunted in annoyance.

"Don't. Ever. You call me that!" she snapped.

"I thought that was your calling. Aria calls you that, doesn't she?" Smokescreen asked.

"Yeah, but she's special case..." Arcee slapped her forehead. She allowed Aria to call her with that special name, but Arcee would be annoyed if someone else called her like that. Especially Smokescreen, "Anyway, if I hear that again..."

"Miss Arcee!"

"I said no...!" Arcee began to reprimand, but she recognized the voice belonged to the one who invented the calling, and whom Arcee allowed to call her that. That made Arcee froze instantly. She turned around to see her favorite student, and then sighed heavily. Smokescreen just grinned widely.

"What? What's the matter?" Aria asked in confusion.

"As you can see, Miss Arcee here..." Smokescreen started, then he received death glare from Arcee. "Uh, never mind. Say, what are you doing here, girl?"

"It's raining outside. Rather boring, so I came here rather than dozing off on my bed. I was searching Miss Arcee for a quick spar," Aria explained.

"GREAT! Then bring it on!" Smokescreen cut in. "Finally it's time for me to show everybody my fists! So, hurry up and let the battle begin!" Smokescreen then entered the training room and doing some warming up.

"This is not the plan, but he will do just fine," Aria merely said.

"Good luck then. Aria, you have my permission to tear his voice box out," Arcee stated before walking away.

"W-w-what...?" Aria stuttered in shock as she watched her idol walked away. She didn't know if Arcee was just joking...or not.

* * *

In MECH operative base, electric sounds boomed all over. Breakdown's body was strapped to numerous cable, and Silas' body was inside him. There was 'Frankenstein' scene as Silas was revived in Breakdown's body.

"Welcome back, sir," the scientist greeted.

"What have you done?" Silas asked as he realized his situation.

"What we needed to in order to save you, Silas," the scientist answered.

"I'm…one of them," Silas observed as he glanced at his hands.

"The logical evolution of MECH's experiments and biotech. Your brain fused with the donor's nervous and skeletal systems," the scientist clarified.

"The perfect meld of man and machine," Silas mused as he looked at the machinery surrounding him from inside Breakdown's recently-mantled body, "Exquisite...! Thank you all for your dedication and a lifetime of service. But I now see more suited to keep the exclusive company of titans."

Silas immediately put his new weaponry into use. His own men was becoming his first target practice. Within minutes, MECH had been disbanded, in a way or another.

* * *

"Come on, where's your muscle hotshot?!" Aria taunted.

Aria and the newcomer engaged in the spar. Smokescreen showed the result of his Elite Guard training, but Aria showed the result of her 'super femme' combat training from Arcee. Smokescreen had difficulties in keeping with Aria.

"Take this!" Smokescreen threw a punch.

Aria blocked it, and sent her own punch to Smokescreen's chassis.

"WOW! Supergirl!" Smokescreen remarked when he took step back. "Where did you receive your training?"

"Miss Arcee," Aria replied shortly.

"Mi...I mean, Arcee?! Wow, I never expected it! Perhaps she could sign up in Elite Guard as Combat Instructor," the white bot said in disbelief.

"You would do well receiving tutorial from her as well," Aria suggested.

"No, I mean, no thanks. She's rather scary," Smokescreen blurted out.

"Wow, keep that away from her earshot! Or you will get an earful!" Aria gasped jokingly. "Okay, shall we go to next round?"

"How much rounds do we have here?" Smokescreen asked.

"Until one of us falls, that is," Aria's reply made the bot widened his eyes in disbelief.

* * *

After slaying his own men, Silas drove to military base, the very place he and Nemesis Prime attacked many months before. He drove in vehicle mode, and approached the security gate. A guard came out to examine the unknown guest. The glass window lowered a bit to reveal Silas' head.

"Colonel Leland Bishop."

* * *

"You torched me real good," Smokescreen stretched his ached joints as he and Aria walked to command center. "When I first heard about Optimus' daughter, I thought she would be an all-glorious princess and stuff like that."

"A Prime's daughter must be a real warrior, that's my concept!" Aria boasted proudly. "Hey, what's going on in here?"

"Bulkhead, you really mustn't allow yourself to decline," Ratchet sighed.

"Yeah, Bulk! You gotta pull yourself out of this funk!" Miko piped in.

"What's the use?" Bulkhead asked bitterly.

"You need to regain your strength," Ratchet stated, "The time will come when…"

"When what? You guys will need an assist? Isn't that what the new guy's for?!" Bulkhead snapped.

"Hey, Bulkhead! I've been thinking. With your injury and all, you might wanna take advantage of the armor I snagged from Starscream," Smokescreen suggested as he walked in carrying the Apex Armor, "Instant muscle suit!"

"You think I need a crutch?!" Bulkhead hissed in annoyance. He tossed the Apex Armor into crushing the computers.

"BULKHEAD! I NEEDED THAT!" Ratchet roared.

"Out of my way, rookie," Bulkhead snapped as he pushed Smokescreen away and limping.

"He can walk!" Smokescreen cheered as Bulkhead reached for the lobbing ball and began working out with it, "Looks like he's fit for duty to me."

"I don't know what you're talking about..." Ratchet muttered angrily before walking away.

"Not yet Smoke. He's still little bit away from 100% recovery," Aria reasoned.

"You've gotta be kidding, Raf!" Jack cried in disbelief into the phone, "You of all people grounded?!"

"_Big time_," Raf sighed, "_I misplaced some homework and blew a couple of tests._"

"Translation: A- instead of A," Miko summed up.

"I'm probably spending too much time at the base," Raf sighed.

"Rafael! I hope you're not on the phone in there!"

"No, mama!" Raf replied back before turning back to his phone_ "Say hi to Bee for me. Until I improve my grades, I'm off Team Prime._"

"Just when we get one back, we lose another," Miko sighed sadly.

* * *

"Strange," Knock Out noted with surprised expression, "Lord Megatron! It appears that Breakdown's signal has popped back online! Albeit corrupted."

"Investigate with caution. It may well be an Autobot trick," Megatron warned.

"I certainly hope not. Breakdown may act the brute. But he's a maestro behind a rotary buffer," Knock Out stated.

* * *

The military base Silas infiltrated turned into debris and dust in no time. The half mechanic came out of the building holding very large suitcase. And that was when Knock Out came by.

"Breakdown, where have you...?!" Knock Out's cut off his joy as he saw Breakdown. Not only that the body was heavily battered, but something was just not right, "Breakdown, what happened to you?"

"There in lies a tale that won't nearly be as interesting to Megatron as this," Silas proclaimed as he held the large suitcase, "So take me to your leader."

* * *

Not for long, Fowler came to Autobot base with good news. And if Fowler meant good news, it was literally a bad news.

"At 16.30 hours, a satellite was stolen from a high-security military vault. Surveillance shows the Decepticon known as Breakdown at the scene," Fowler began explaining.

"Haven't seen him in a while," Bulkhead remarked.

"Perhaps he was in middle of break as well?" Aria noted.

"It looks like Breakdown entered the base in vehicle mode with someone behind the wheel," Fowler added when he showed the footage from security camera.

"A Decepticon paired with a human?!" Ratchet exclaimed in disbelief.

"And I have a pretty good idea who. The satellite stolen was Project Damocles!" Fowler announced.

"Invented by Silas," Optimus finished.

"I guess the former Colonel Bishop wanted it back," Fowler shrugged.

_I thought he died a few months ago?_ Bumblebee asked.

"Bee's right. I thought Silas was passed," Arcee pointed out.

"You saw it with me, he was a pancake under my father's wannabe," Aria added.

"I thought so as well," Fowler nodded in agreement.

"Agent Fowler, even if he were alive, are you suggesting that Silas has allied MECH with the Decepticons?!" Ratchet exclaimed in disbelief, "I highly doubt that Megatron would even entertain such an idea!"

"Why not? The human-bot alliance works for us," Jack stated.

"Most of the time," Arcee muttered.

* * *

"Knock Out! What is this abomination?!" Megatron demanded in anger, "And why have you brought him here?!"

"I am Cylas. As in 'Cybernetic Life Augmented by Symbiosis'," Cylas introduced his new name as he bowed to Megatron, "I come with a proposition."

"This is the human who dissected Breakdown!" Knock Out hissed in anger as he deployed his circular saw. And the doctor was more than ready to avenge his fallen partner. "Please, my liege. Allow me to return the favor."

"I propose that you not overlook the one asset that provides Optimus Prime an advantage. At least, on this world," Cylas suggested.

"And that would be…?" Megatron inquired dryly.

"The Human Factor," Cylas explained, eventually giving Megatron a hint. Even the half machine glanced to another half machine aka Helios who was standing beside Megatron.

"Look around you, Cylas! I command an army from a mighty warship! What could a human, a mere human possibly offer?!" Megatron asked.

"I am no ordinary human and this is no ordinary weapon," Cylas proclaimed as he gestured towards the weapon he had stolen from the military vault.

* * *

"Damocles is a particle beam canon so powerful it can slice up the Pentagon like a birthday cake or give everyone on Mount Rushmore a Mohawk from a satellite in orbit," Fowler explained just what Project Damocles was to everyone in the base, "It's the work of a madman in Megatron's hands."

* * *

"A threat to everyone anywhere on the planet," Megatron summed up.

"With pinpoint accuracy at the flick of a switch," Cylas added.

"And what is it that you wish in return?" Megatron inquired.

"Merely a place at the table," Cylas answered as he bowed once again. "I can see you already have a half-machine working for you. Would it hurt to add one more?"

"This boy over here is more than just half machine. He is my precious possession!" Megatron snapped. "However, your proposition is too promising to let go..."

* * *

"The 'Cons may have the satellite. But they can't use it without the interface code. The only copy is stored on a secure network at headquarters in Colorado," Fowler read from the file he held in his hand.

"We must keep the codes from Decepticon hands at all costs," Optimus stated.

"It's roll time!" Bulkhead declared.

"Yep, yep yep! I have not cleared you for active duty!" Ratchet was quick to remind Bulkhead, "Nor are you ready to roll!"

* * *

"_Attention! All personnel are ordered to evacuate immediately! We have a level 5 radiation leak! Repeat! Evacuate immediately!_"

It was Fowler's voice, but not from him. Soundwave played the clip of Fowler's voice to clear away the headquarters from humans. After the place emptied itself, Soundwave made his way to the computer room. He jacked into the system using his tentacles, and downloaded the interface code for the satellite.

* * *

As the Autobot teams arrived, they were greeted by shootings from Decepticon drones. Immediately, all of them took cover.

"The Decepticons have preceded us!" Optimus stated as he deployed his blaster.

"Why they always do?" Aria noted dryly.

"We must secure the command centre!"

With that, the team led by Optimus charged forward and retaliated using their own fires.

* * *

And it didn't went unnoticed by Megatron's ship.

"The Autobots have arrived!" Megatron observed in anger.

"Megatron, relax," Cylas reassured, then he received death glare from the Decepticon tyrant, "_Lord_ Megatron, Soundwave may need the code to move and operate the Damocles here aboard your ship. But while jacked into the mainframe, the Damocles is his to command."

Cylas pressed a button to deploy the Damocles satellite into the space. The satellite unfolded itself, and maintained position with Earth's orbit.

* * *

"_Soundwave, prepare for beta test._"

Soundwave nodded, and he proceeded to use the satellite. His target; the Autobots outside the place.

* * *

Smokescreen transformed into his vehicle mode and raced ahead. He transformed again and shot down a couple of drones. One Vehicon jumped him, Smokescreen flipped him and pummeled him into oblivion.

Suddenly, there was very loud noise from the sky. When they all looked up, a red, fiery beam was fired exactly to Smokescreen.

"Smoke, LOOK OUT!" Aria cried.

Smokescreen widened his eyes at the incoming beam, then he jumped away to dodge it. The bean torched the Vehicon instead.

"Whoa," Smokescreen remarked as he saw the Vehicon he was fighting burnt to a crisp.

"Promising," Megatron noted with a smirk when he saw the damage.

Optimus looked up to the skies and saw that the satellite was firing another shot.

"Fall back!" Optimus immediately instructed as they began running.

The beam hit the ground and chased the group, so the Autobot team ran as fast as they could. Busting to the command center wasn't an easy task, since the satellite and Soundwave were holding them back.

"Not fair! Why Decepticons always have the good stuff?!" Aria remarked for the obvious thing.

* * *

"_Ratchet! We require backup!_"

"I'm there," Bulkhead cut in.

"Yep, yep yep!" Ratchet held him back, as the green Wrecker was still grounded.

"_Can you remotely disable Project Damocles under Agent Fowler's advisement?_"

"On a human-based computer network?! Without my back-up, without Rafael?" Ratchet exclaimed in disbelief.

* * *

In his house, Raf was bored to death. He thought he was hallucinating when he heard the familiar sound of GroundBridge. But as Raf turned around, it wasn't hallucination. Fowler, Jack and Miko bridged to his bedroom.

"What are you guys doing here?!" Raf asked.

"Son, your planet needs you," Fowler replied and handed the file to the boy.

* * *

The Autobots already acknowledged the plan of letting Raf did the job. And so, they moved to plan B.

"Autobots! We must draw it's fire to distract from Rafael's efforts!" Optimus proclaimed.

Then another beam struck again.

"Somehow, I don't think that'll be a problem," Arcee noted.

"What makes you think so?" Aria asked back.

"Because Miss Arcee said so!" Smokescreen joked.

"This isn't the time for joke. And Smokescreen, I TOLD YOU NOT TO CALL ME THAT!" Arcee yelled as they took off running.

They all transformed to vehicle when Aria deployed her rollerblades. Somehow, they had to maintain it long enough until Raf succeeded.

* * *

"Ratchet! You gotta send me in!" Bulkhead still bargained.

"So you can be an even easier target?! You have yet to gain your full range of motion!" Ratchet argued.

"But Breakdown's back! He's my archenemy! Come on! Even the kids are in on the action!" Bulkhead demanded even more.

"Very well, Bulkhead. You are clear for duty," Ratchet finally relented.

"YES!" Bulkhead cheered as he raced towards the GroundBridge.

"A duty of my choosing!" Ratchet quickly added.

* * *

"I'm in, but I can't reach the targeting systems. Too many firewalls," Raf said as he worked on the computer.

"Come on, son! If the 'Cons make off with that interface code, Damocles lights the sky 24/7!" Fowler told them.

"Let them have the code," Raf suggested. "It won't do any good without the satellite."

"Can't say I follow," Fowler admitted.

"All satellites have maneuvering thrusters to they can adjust their orbits. If I can break into the navigation subroutine, I can bring the whole satellite down," Rad explained.

"Great!" Fowler cheered before asking sheepishly, "Say, um, which way's the bathroom?"

"What?! NO! If my mom sees you...!" Raf cried in protest.

"Relax. I trained in covert ops," Fowler reassured.

"I don't care if you were trained by a ninja! My mom has eyes in the back of your head!" Raf protested.

* * *

On Megatron's screen, there was an alert going off.

"An intruder in the system?!" Megatron roared, and he pushed Cylas aside, "Soundwave! We have a breach!"

Then Soundwave traced the source of the problem.

"Jasper, Nevada," Cylas observed, "It could only be the Autobot's human allies."

"Then perhaps you should attend to the matter," Megatron ordered.

"Surely, one of your subordinates is more suitable..." Cylas began to argue.

"NOW!" Megatron roared, receiving no argument.

* * *

"That thing was created by humans? I can't hardly believe it, but at the same time it so makes sense. My force field is no match for that satellite," Aria said as she held her smoking hand. She already tried shielding from the beam with her force field, but it resulted in her hand being burnt mildly.

"It so makes sense?" Arcee asked as she ran alongside the girl, they rushed to the command center.

"Yeah, several human creations are way, way too deadly and groundbreaking! And we're talking about MECH. Incoming!" Aria screeched as another beam struck again.

Smokescreen drove around to dodge the beam, then as the beam stopped, the command center just few meters before him.

"CLEAR SHOT! I'M GOING IN!" Smokescreen raced ahead, but another beam came in. He eventually had to maneuver away to dodge it, "Scratch that!"

* * *

And for the humans, the thing had turned into the worse. Cylas already arrived on the neighborhood, and it didn't take long for him to locate the house.

"Goodnight, hacker," Cylas smirked as he aimed his weapon at the bedroom.

Cylas charged his missile blaster, but just then Bulkhead came in the scene. He was just in time to run Cylas, and preventing the latter of blowing Raf's house together with the humans.

"Good call on curbside duty, Ratch," Bulkhead complimented.

Bulkhead continued to drag Cylas into the freeway few miles from the neighborhood. Both of mechs rolled down the slope, transformed and landed on the road.

"Been itching to see you again," Bulkhead said with a smirk, "Where you been, Breakdown?"

"Be patient. I'm about to send you there," Cylas replied.

"You're not Breakdown!" Bulkhead finally knew something was off.

"But you are Bulkhead. And this is the last time you will interfere with my operations," Cylas added.

Then it dawned on Bulkhead. "Silas?!" Bulkhead gasped in disbelief.

"In the flesh…in a manner of speaking," Cylas answered with a smirk.

Cylas or Breakdown, Bulkhead knew he had a fight. The green Wrecker deployed his wrecking ball and charged forward. He tried several times punching Cylas, but Bulkhead had yet to regain his full strength. Cylas had more than it needed to toss Bulkhead aside.

* * *

"Bulkhead! Do you read?!" Ratchet cried. "BULKHEAD!"

No response, and Ratchet knew it was trouble.

* * *

The code download was 50% completed. Until it was finished, Soundwave would continue firing to prevent the Autobots from getting closer.

And the Autobots would continue running around. As Optimus ran to dodge the beam, Ratchet commed him.

"_Optimus! I fear that Bulkhead requires immediate backup!_"

* * *

"Come on, where did you hide the substring?!" Raf asked in frustration.

Fowler came back to the room after sneaking his way to the bathroom. Which, somehow he succeeded.

"F.Y.I: you're low on T.P," Fowler said sheepishly.

* * *

"Reaction time is slow. You're favoring your right side. Legs are weak," Cylas observed as he knocked Bulkhead to the ground once again.

"I'll show you weak!" Bulkhead snarled. He was too stubborn and prideful to give up that easily. He forced his weakened body to stand up, and charged one more time. But Cylas just thwarted him aside again.

"You should have stayed in bed, Autobot," Cylas tormented with a smirk as he approached the fallen Autobot, ready to deliver the killing blow.

But Smokescreen arrived just in time, he kicked Cylas away. Bulkhead stared at the newcomer in disbelief.

"Assist. What the new guy's for," Smokescreen smirked as he helped Bulkhead to his feet.

"One new guy to another, this is your final day on the job," Cylas sneered.

* * *

"They're attempting to disable the satellite!" Megatron roared as he saw the same warning signs that Soundwave was seeing, "Cylas, how difficult is it to squash a human child?! …CYLAS!"

Megatron finally realized that so little humans could be trusted, and relied on.

"Helios, go there and finish the problem. Terminate anything that gets in my way, including that useless human with Breakdown's body," Megatron finally turned into the only human he could trust. Well, Helios was no longer a human.

* * *

Bulkhead and Smokescreen began ganging up on Cylas, and the half mechanic man got thrashed around. Just when Cylas was cornered, white blasts from the sky preventing Bulkhead and Smokescreen from crushing him. If it were white blasts, it would be from Helios.

And the said vermillion Decepticon was hovering in the sky with his jetpack. The order was clear, terminate everything that would get in Megatron's plan. Helios wouldn't hesitate to kill anybody, because he wouldn't ever hesitate.

"Another company? Isn't that color scheme too bright for a Con? And why he can fly like that?" Smokescreen inquired.

"Uh-oh, this is not good at all..." Bulkhead muttered. Helios might be a youngling, but he was a White. Therefore, he was very dangerous enemy.

"What, you know this petite sunny Sunday boy?" Smokescreen asked.

Helios landed in front of the Autobots and Cylas. He stared at them with faceless expression.

"Yeah, call him petite and you'll be crushed. This boy isn't here for a game!" Bulkhead warned. For some reason, he was rather scared by the way Helios glared at them.

"I don't know Megatron would care," Cylas said as he stood up. "I appreciate for the back up. Helios, isn't it?"

Helios wasn't there for back up. He aimed his cannon at the group, and blasted at them. Bulkhead and Smokescreen leapt away to dodge it, but much to Cylas' surprise, the shot was aimed for him too. The shockwave from the powerful white energon blast sent them rolling on the ground.

"WHOA!" Smokescreen yelped in surprise when he tumbled on the road. "What WAS that? That boy has one hundred caliber weapon on him?!"

"You can say that, rookie," Bulkhead said as he stood warily.

Immediately Helios went for another attack. His priority was the Autobots first, then Cylas. He leapt in front of Smokescreen, and threw a punch. Both of the youngsters went into a brawl, but Helios seemed to gain an upper hand. For some reason, Helios was fighting like a beast. Bulkhead knew it, Helios wasn't playing around. The green Wrecker didn't know Helios like Aria did. But Bulkhead realized that they might require some additional back up.

* * *

"Bulkhead, Smokescreen, do you read? What is your status?" Ratchet commed the two.

"_Bad news, doc. Another bogey arrived on the scene,"_ Smokescreen reported first.

"_It is HELIOS! Do I have to repeat it again?! HELIOS! That White boy!"_ Bulkhead immediately added to raise the alert._  
_

"Helios...?" Ratchet asked in disbelief.

"_And tell you what, if he wanna to grind us into servo salad and serve us to Megatron, he will go straight for it! This boy is like a mad truck! I request for the expert!" _Bulkhead added.

* * *

"Just how long we have to run around like this?!" Aria cried in desperation as she ran away from the red beam.

"_Aria, do you read? We have situation! Helios had arrived at Bulkhead's location!"_ Ratchet commed the White Autobot.

"What...?" that made Aria stopped in mid-track, but when you were chased by a scorching beam, it was the worst idea. Luckily, Optimus swung and scooped her away before she got hit. "Thanks, father. Ratchet...can you repeat that again?!"

"_Helios is in Bulkhead's location!"_ Ratchet repeated. "_From the way Bulkhead spoke, they need additional back up!"_

"Father..." Aria glanced to Optimus for solution. She wanted to go to meet Helios, but at the same time, she didn't want to leave Optimus.

"Go, my dear," Optimus replied with a nod. "Bulkhead and Smokescreen need you. So does Helios."

* * *

Meanwhile, the code download was completed.

"_We have the code? Then target the intruders and destroy them!"_ Megatron ordered Soundwave.

* * *

Bumblebee was running away from the beam, but for some reason, the beam just stopped and vanishing. The team knew better than wasting a good opportunity.

"This is our opportunity!" Optimus cried, "Autobots, scorn the command centre!"

* * *

"We're almost there!" Raf announced as he continued working.

On the screen, the red dot of the satellite began to move away from Colorado.

"Raf! Rock on! It's moving!" Miko cheered.

"That wasn't me," Raf stated, earning a weird look from Miko.

* * *

Smokescreen was dealing with Cylas when Bulkhead was with Helios. But with Bulkhead weakened, Helios got the upper hand. The smaller boy threw an uppercut. When Bulkhead was flat on the ground, Helios stood on Bulkhead's chest and aimed his cannon to the green Wrecker's head.

"Oh, no you don't...! WHOA!" Smokescreen witnessed it and was about to help, but Cylas gripped him from behind.

"We have our show, new guy," Cylas said.

Helios charged his white cannon, but before he could shoot it, someone kicked him away from Bulkhead. It was Aria, arriving on the scene just in time.

"Bulk, you okay?" Aria asked as she stood protectively in front of Bulkhead.

"I'm fine. But I don't think he is," Bulkhead said as he pointed to Helios.

Aria whirled around to see Helios, then she gasped in horror as she saw his face. Helios stared at her without expression, and Aria knew better of that symptom than anybody. Aria knew it, Helios was being controlled.

"No..." Aria muttered in horror.

* * *

Inside Raf's room, the humans observed that the satellite's aim moved to certain area.

"Erm, guys, that's Jasper," Jack observed.

"Ooh! I can see my host parent's house!" Miko cheered excitedly, earning weird looks from everyone else in the room.

"And I can see my house! We're right in the target sites!" Raf cried in horror.

"Anytime, son!" Fowler ushered.

"Full thruster burn!" Raf hurriedly typed the command and pressed 'enter'.

Just when the beam was about to be fired, the satellite's thruster activated. It fired the beam while rocketing off course at the same time. The beam missed Raf's house, and just struck a little of nearby burger shop's signboard.

"Phew..." Raf sighed in relief.

"YES!" Fowler and the others cheered.

_KNOCK KNOCK!_

"RAFAEL JORGE GONZALES ESQUIVEL!"

They all froze instantly when Raf's mom knocked on the door. If she found out about the unknowns inside the house, well...

"What is going on in here?!" Raf's mom opened the door immediately.

All she saw was, her son and his friends sitting in circle with books on their hands.

"Study group," Raf shrugged casually.

* * *

Optimus and the others mashed their way inside the command centre. But by the time they reached the computer room, Soundwave already got away. He managed to get the code, but they lost the satellite. For Team Prime, it made them at the winning team.

* * *

With Helios being taken care by Aria, Bulkhead and Smokescreen ganged up on Cylas again. Bulkhead kicked Cylas on the chest, and Smokescreen kicked his face square.

The situation wasn't too good for Aria vs Helios. Aria barely kept up with Helios' violent fight.

"Helios! I don't believe it!" Aria tried to speak to the senseless boy. "You let that Megajerk controlled you?!"

No response, Helios just kept hitting. He kept aiming his cannon to Aria's head, and Aria repeatedly had to avoid it, barely. It was as the girl predicted, Helios wouldn't respond, because he couldn't. Even if Helios' inner sense was still intact, his physic was under control of the program.

"Helios...!" Aria whispered in disbelief, then yelled out, "ADRIAN! I know you're in there! You're not a drone that can be used as toy!"

Aria was still in denial, but all of her words fell to deaf audio. He couldn't respond to voices outside commands and orders. And he couldn't do anything besides what his master told him. Seeing Helios in 'remote-control' state, revived some of tragic times of Aria's life. The girl was once being controlled like that, and it was the experience she didn't want to go through again, or witness.

"The situation is not good...! Ratchet!" Aria called back to base.

"_What is it?"_

"Helios, no, Adrian is being controlled..." Aria gravely reported.

"_Controlled? By who?"_

"Who else? It must be that Megajerk! He probably get the program for it from the anatomy data he stole before!" Aria cried out.

"_Cylas, Helios, return to base immediately._"

Cylas fired his shoulder missile to Bulkhead and Smokescreen, when Helios gave his strongest blast to Aria. Bulkhead and Smokescreen leapt away to dodge it, Aria deployed her force field to shield herself. Second later, a GroundBridge portal opened. Cylas made a run for it, followed closely by Helios.

Helios was getting away for the numerous times. It was rather annoying for Aria, that her most wanted rival always managed to flee. However, this time Aria was determined not to let him go. She couldn't afford of losing him again. Not when he was being used as remote control drone by Megatron. As her emotion took over her mind, Aria deployed her rollerblade, and raced as fast as she could to the GroundBridge portal. And, somehow, she managed to go through it, a second before it closed.

"Aria! Scrap...!" Bulkhead gasped in horror as Aria disappeared through Decepticon GroundBridge. It happened so fast, he and Smokescreen didn't have time to react. "Ratch, this is definitely not good at all...!"

"_I've heard 'situation not good' for almost hundredth times in one day! What is it now?!"_

"The worst, doc! Aria followed the enemies, into the GroundBridge. Into the Con's warship, do you get it?!" Bulkhead reported. He didn't get a reply, but he could hear a gasp of shock from the other side.

* * *

"Cylas, you have earned your place among the table," Megatron stated.

"Lord Megatron, I am honored," Cylas replied.

"Knock Out's dissection table!" Megatron immediately added.

Cylas widened his eyes in horror. When he whirled around, the said doctor was standing with evil smirk on his face.

"Breakdown would be tickled," Knock Out said.

"No, Lord Megatron! Why?!" Cylas demanded as he stumbled backwards.

"Because Damocles was the best you had to offer and it is no more. The Human Factor did indeed tip the scales…in favor of my enemies," Megatron said as Soundwave brought up an old photo of Jack, Miko and Raf.

Without warning, Knock Out zapped Cylas with his energon prod. Cylas tumbled down to the floor, barely conscious.

"He will be a fascinating case for study," Megatron said.

"I will leave no fiber or fiber optic unexamined," Knock Out promised when he tapped Cylas' dead optic.

"No! Megatron! I'm here to serve you! No! No! No! NOOOOOOOOO!" Cylas screamed when the drones dragged him away, to his death table.

Megatron merely observed the scene with menacing glare. Then, he cringed a bit when he heard explosives sound inside his warship.

* * *

Aria followed Helios all way inside the warship, and both of the Whites continued to fight in the hallway. Even without being given order, Helios knew to terminate anybody who sided with the Autobots, per instruction by Megatron. Aria knew how foolish it was to get inside enemy territory like that. However, things had been done. White energon blasts rocked the entire ship, and killed every drones who tried to interfere.

"Adrian! You can't let them do this to you!" Aria still tried to talk some sense into the boy. "You're not a drone! You're a sentient being!"

Aria and Helios took few steps back, and that was when, Helios managed to speak on his own.

"It's over..." the boy whispered weakly. "I'm no more..."

"No! Don't give up yet!" Aria resolved not to give up that easily. But she didn't notice Knock Out sneaking to her behind, and managed to zap her. Aria screamed out in pain when the electricity rocked her body. She fell to the ground, completely paralyzed.

"Good job, Knock Out," Megatron came by. He was rather surprised to find Aria inside his ship.

"This half fleshing followed to this far. Really a bad idea, I thought a daughter of Optimus Prime could do much better than that," Knock Out mused.

"Indeed. At the same time, it was pretty a good idea for her to come all by herself here," Megatron responded with evil smirk. He had so much plan with the daughter of Optimus, and he knew he would like every moment of it. "We got two half human for today. However, treat this girl with utmost care and do not let her body being scratched by any means."

"With pleasure, my liege," Knock Out nodded.

Aria immediately slowly went unconscious. As her vision went gray, she briefly saw Helios' face. It was a face without any expression or emotion. His eyes were dead, and his mind would be pretty soon. Aria knew it was only a matter of time until Helios' true self would die as well. It almost happened to her. Aria didn't want the tragedy to unfold again, to her or anybody.

She already tried all possible efforts to save Helios/Adrian. Was she, after all, unable to reach him?

* * *

"Aria, do you copy? Say something!" Ratchet cried to the comm link.

In Autobot base, the situation wasn't too good. After being informed of Aria's reckless action, Optimus thought he would go offline anytime soon. And the fact that the girl was still missing, it only deepened his horror. Nobody expected someone to enter Megatron's warship and get back out fast. Ratchet already attempted to track and contact Aria, but no use.

"How is it, Ratchet...?" Arcee asked, worry filled her words.

"Negative. She's not responding, and I don't know where she is, or the warship..." Ratchet gravely told.

"Running to enemy's GroundBridge? What was she thinking...?" Arcee whispered in frustration.

"All that I knew, she was after that Sunny Sunday boy? What's the matter?" Smokescreen asked in confusion.

"Well, I'll tell you the tale if you want..." Arcee said.

Optimus didn't say anything, but his face was drawn by mixture of emotion. He knew his daughter all too well. Aria wasn't the type of girl who would take dangerous action without thinking twice. Optimus knew, Aria would only do that if her emotion won over her. He briefly touched his chest, the place of his Heart of Wisdom being stored. It was the thing that could alert his daughter of Optimus' safety. It pained the Prime to think that he couldn't do the same.

The fact that Aria hadn't gotten out of Nemesis, it could only mean one thing. She was captured. And that made Prime's spark sank in worry even more.


	29. Aria's Gamble

_"Life is a gamble, at terrible odds - if it was a bet you wouldn't take it"_

_Tom Stoppard_

* * *

Aria didn't know how long she was unconscious. As she woke up, she got herself inside a brig. The sea green femme was hung from the ceiling by metal shackles cuffing her wrists. And, there were strange clamp around her waist as well.

"Rise and shine, little lady," Knock Out was there. "Should I begin the briefing?"

"Don't trouble yourself. I already knew it," Aria replied, she could remember of the trouble she got into. Or rather, she made of. She was imprisoned by the Decepticons, and it was all caused by her own reckless action.

"Then I can cut it short. For addition, don't ever attempt to transform," Knock Out pointed out. "The thing on your waist is transformation jammer. My latest invention, thanks to the anatomy plan of yours."

Aria tried to bluff it, but as she tried to revert back to human, she couldn't. The jammer was the real deal. Knock Out already studied her biomechanics too well. And he already calculated the possibility of her freeing herself from the cuffs by simply transforming to human. Aria sighed in defeat, now her chance to escape was almost none.

"Welcome aboard, Aria," Megatron, Dreadwing and Helios entered the brig. "I just hope that this place is comfortable for your like."

"Don't worry about that, this will do just fine. I've been in far _better_ than this, bucket head!" Aria said sarcastically.

"Watch your words around Lord Megatron!" Dreadwing scolded.

"Let her, Dreadwing," Megatron cut in, somehow amused by Aria's reaction. "You truly reminded me of Optimus and his late daughter. Arianna, in case it's not clear. Courageous and no fear at all. Although, you are little bit more aggressive."

"What you've done to him?" Aria cut short the blabbering, and referring to Helios immediately.

"Wow, don't wanna play word game anymore?" Knock Out asked.

"You see Aria, it is what I thought to be necessary," Megatron replied.

"He deserved it, for the attempted betrayal he had done to Lord Megatron," Dreadwing added.

"Dreadwing, you would do well to remain silent until the time is right," Megatron reprimanded.

"My apologies, master," Dreadwing went submissive immediately.

"Attempted betrayal...?" Aria inquired.

* * *

"You gotta to be kidding!" Smokescreen exclaimed in surprise. "Aria is the incarnation of the legendary Saint?! I mean, the Saint who kicked the scrap out of the Unicron Chaos Bringer?!"

"The Saint was not the one who defeated Unicron. Primus and the Primes before me did it. However, it should be noted that the Saint's holy power was one of the key roles in the legend. She was the Protector. And her spirit still lives to this day..." Optimus explained, "In the form of White Energon she passed to the ones she saw worthy."

"But, if we're talking about incarnation, shouldn't it be just one? How you're gonna reborn in multiple bodies?" Smokescreen asked. "Like, in Aria and that Sunny Boy, both of them, at the same time?"

"White Cybertronians aren't just the incarnations, they are heirs of the Saint. Whites carry the Blood of Parthonus, as well as the duty of Protector," Ratchet added. "So the future Primes, as well as the entire universe, could be protected forever."

"Okay, I got it, somehow. Except for one thing," Smokescreen asked even further, "You said the ones she saw worthy? How about that boy, he's a Con. No offense, but this Saint seemed to have bad taste."

"I think I've heard it somewhere..." Bulkhead whispered to Bumblebee, who nodded in agreement.

"Parthonus' choices were out of anybody's logical thinking. We are not in the capability to understand the Ancients' wisdom," Optimus merely replied. "And in my opinion, Helios is anything but Decepticon at heart."

"What makes you think so?" Smokescreen asked.

"Aria and Helios share quite a bit of history," Optimus merely replied. He decided not to explain further. The past of Aria could only be told by the girl herself.

"Excuse me, but can we skip the questioning later?" Arcee cut in. "We have lot of better things to do. Like, locating Aria's whereabouts."

"I know we have to be quick with it, but we're out of elements, Arcee. I still cannot penetrate the warship's cloaking technology. Oh yeah, there's something I forgot to tell you. Before Aria stormed the Decepticon GroundBridge, she reported to me that Helios was being controlled," Ratchet recalled back.

"That boy? You mean, being controlled as a mad killing machine, like..." Bulkhead was about to say the next word, but he quickly shut up. Who knew what would happen to him, if he carelessly brought up the sensitive subject. In front of new guy nonetheless.

"I was positive with it. Aria even told me that Megatron must be getting that program from the anatomy data," Ratchet said.

"It must be it," Arcee spoke. "That was the reason why Aria just went inside enemy's territory. She was desperate to catch that boy..."

Optimus couldn't agree more. Seeing Helios being controlled must have relived Aria's past. And Optimus knew how painful for his daughter to deal with it. When he was skeptical about Aria's reckless action, he hardly could blame her for it.

"Wow, wow! Controlled? Program? Mad killing machine?" Smokescreen was confused even more. "Someone tell me what we're actually talking about?!"

"_Prime!"_ Fowler popped on the screen. "_Breaking news, we just found the location of MECH's operation base. But tell you what, they're no more."_

"What do you mean by that?" Ratchet asked.

"_They were all...fired and busted."_

_WHAT?_ Bumblebee yelped.

"Don't tell me, they were all finished...?" Arcee asked in horrified tone.

"_And the culprit was no doubt the leader himself_," Fowler added.

"Who used Breakdown's body as walking crutch! Worst idea, because Silas had never asked my permission for it! When I see him next time, I'm going to fine him!" Bulkhead cut in. Somehow, he felt so angry to the fact that his rival was stolen by somebody else.

"_How's it going over there? Any luck finding your girl, Prime?"_ Fowler asked worriedly.

"Not yet, Agent Fowler," Ratchet shook his head.

"Agent Fowler, I have a request," Optimus spoke in.

* * *

"The program to control the mind over a cyborg, resulted in human-machine combination," Megatron trailed. "Your race has truly began to shine the light. Albeit, still left behind of our own super technology. But we owe it to the human scientists who created you."

Aria didn't reply anything, her menacing glare told Megatron everything.

"You like it or not, Helios is going to stay here, and serve me, forever. Under my control," Megatron smirked evilly.

* * *

"The program that was used to control Helios, no doubt was the same being used to my daughter in the past. Can you see if there is any possibility to disable the controlling program of Helios?" Optimus asked after he explained what happened.

"What...?" Arcee and the others looked at Optimus in confusion.

"_Well, let's see what I can do. I'll hook up that nerd boy again. Kaldovski, I mean. I'll give you the news when I have one_," and Fowler cut the connection. _  
_

"Optimus, seriously..." Arcee said in disbelief. "I can completely understand that you want to help that boy as well, but...! He's not the one in danger right now!"

"Helios is, as long as Megatron still has control over him," Optimus argued. "I know what a simple software could do on his body and mind. Because it almost happened to Aria as well..." he reflected back to the story his daughter once told him. "I am Aria's father, I am supposed not only protecting her, but also supporting her in any way I could."

* * *

"My liege, with her in our arsenal, I think it's time to open the bargain," Knock Out suggested. "I bet that Prime will do just about anything if his daughter is at stake."

"He won't!" Aria snapped.

"Will he? You are his daughter, the last one. I know Optimus all too well. All these times he tried desperately to keep you away from my reach," Megatron argued. "And you will make the perfect hostage, for me to get what I want, from Optimus."

"Can we just ask Optimus and his entire team to surrender?" Dreadwing suggested. "It is the quickest way for us to turn the tide of this war."

"Oh, it would not be fun at all, Dreadwing. If I could ask him to surrender that easy, for what purpose I have this mighty warship, weaponry, and all the soldiers? We will finish it, with the way we always do," Megatron argued. "There is something that I want to have. Omega Bomb's operating module."

* * *

Fowler didn't take any longer to get to work. He immediately went to national prison where Kaldovski was serving his sentence.

"Just think about it. You abandoned me in this cold place and only pulled me out when you needed something? That's not humane at all," Kaldovski grunted.

"I don't want to hear it from those of your kind. I'm here for urgent business, doctor," Fowler said, and he showed the photo of Helios. "Somebody managed to steal the software that you created, and used it to get control of this boy, whom you called 'Project 01'."

"I thought they already got the software in one package with the boy?" Kaldovski asked in confusion.

"They did, and this time they put it into use. Tell me, is there anyway we can somehow disable the controlling program?" Fowler immediately asked.

"Well, the thing that crossed my mind, you have to somehow scramble the main part of the software itself," Kaldovski merely said. "The infra control and the core part are pretty easy to reverse once you hack into it."

Fowler rolled his eyes, there was no way they could hack into Decepticon computer system that easy. Plus, that sounded too difficult. They had to look for another and easier way.

"Is there any more convenient way than that?" Fowler asked again.

"If you can't do it from inside, then do it from outside. The infra control circuit was planted inside Project 01 and 02's processor. If you can somehow destroy it by external means, it can do," Kaldovski shrugged.

"How?"

"I said, external means. Electrical shock, magnetic wave, or blunt force trauma, anything will suffice."

"Isn't that kind of deadly?" Fowler asked.

"That's why, I have to warn you. If you attempt to disable the control circuit from the outside, the chance of killing that boy is too high," Kaldovski warned. "Well, if you end up killing that boy, don't blame me. I only provide information."

* * *

"Omega Bomb's operating module?" Knock Out asked. "There's even a module for supernova explosive device?"

"Omega Bomb is unlike any kind of weapon even existed. Activating it is very complicated and long procedure. The procedure of activating Omega Bomb was recorded in certain module. The operating module was stored inside Iacon Hall of Record. Which, sadly, already lost long time ago in the war," Megatron explained. "Aside of the module, an activation code was needed. It is the code that only the line of Primes know. Optimus was working in Hall of Record before, and I was certain that the module was still fresh in his memory bank."

"And if we can get the module and the activation code..." Dreadwing trailed off.

"We can use the Omega Bomb to create a big bang all over again," Knock Out finished with a smirk. "Let me guess, we're going to boom the Earth...?"

"Once we get all the supply we need, we will toss aside this organic planet, together with the foolish Autobots who risk their lives to protect it," Megatron said. "And, I can be the sole rule of Cybertron, and the whole universe."

"Watch your mouth! What's with that 'foolish'?! I'll show you foolish if you want!" Aria interfered.

"And what are you going to do with it, my dear Aria?" Megatron asked.

"My father won't give what you want, I can swear...!" Aria yelled out.

"He will, especially if you are at stake," Megatron said. "Your father is a reasonable Prime. If he complies my request, I might consider of sparing his and your lives. Is that suffice for you?"

"Let me remind you one thing, I'm in this situation because of my own action. So, let my father and friends out of this," Aria said. "This is between you and me."

"I don't see any relevance of your statement," Megatron stated.

"If you're talking about Omega Bomb's operating module, I have it," Aria replied.

"What?" Dreadwing raised his ridge in confusion.

"You already knew that I was fused with Arianna. Therefore, I inherited her memories. Arianna often visited our father inside Hall of Record, and she read every historical document stored there. She already read the module, and so, it's listed inside my head," Aria explained. "I can give you that if you want."

"What was it that I heard? You are going to give me the module to activate a weapon, that can destroy Earth? The planet that your father is so desperate to protect?" Megatron mused.

"Lord Megatron, I do not think she's telling the truth! She must be lying!" Dreadwing objected.

"Dreadwing, do I have any reason to lie about that?" Aria argued.

"You have no reason to lie, Aria. Even more, you have no reason to betray your cause," Megatron pointed out. "I can hardly see the logic behind your statement, Aria."

"Yeah, crazy huh? But, I'm doing this because of one thing. I will agree to give you the module, if you can grant one my request," Aria said.

"Pray tell, what it would be?" Megatron asked.

"Release Helios from your control," Aria replied. "And, let him choose his own path."

Megatron widened his eyes, then he glanced briefly to Helios standing behind him. He could hardly believe it, Aria was sacrificing the fate of her home planet, for the sake of one boy. But, it could make sense if counting the fact that Aria was the same kind as Helios. And it wouldn't be all weird if Aria sympathized Helios because of it.

Helios was keeping his stoic face, but inside he was shocked. He could perfectly hear what was going on around him. And he too, didn't believe the action Aria took.

"Really? You give us the doomsday device guide book, for him?" Knock Out asked as he pointed to Helios. "I thought you were going to ask Lord Megatron to let you go home."

"Let me go home? If I go home after that, what am I going to explain to father and the others? That I gave the Decepticons the Omega Bomb module?" Aria asked.

"Point," Knock Out noted.

"The program you used on Helios was once being used at me too. It's no fun experience at all, and I just don't want him to go through it," Aria turned to Megatron. "I don't care of what you're going to do to that bomb or myself. But, let Helios go. That's all my request."

"Lord Megatron, this could be a trap," Dreadwing argued. "You, a daughter of Optimus Prime, will betray the Autobots? I would not believe it even until I die."

"Suit yourself, Dreadwing. But rather than going through all the trouble of fetching the module out of my father, isn't this more convenient? You must know that my father has a lot of tricks, he's the wise Prime after all. Would it be more easier if you just get the module from the source right before you?" Aria stated. "So, do what I want, and I'll give you what you want. Omega Bomb's operating module, that is."

Megatron stared directly to Aria's eyes, he could see so much determination there. He could tell, that girl wasn't lying or deceiving. She was telling the truth, which Megatron could hardly see the logical reason behind it. The only logical explanation, Aria wanted to save Helios from being enslaved. But that too, was sounded not too right. Either way, Megatron knew that dealing with Optimus was way, way too risky. Getting the module right from Aria was easier, and safer. Then again, safer wasn't always what it sounded.

But Megatron wasn't the one who would back down from risky decision. Aria's bargain was too precious to let go.

"Alright, then..." Megatron replied.

* * *

10 hours later...

In Bruce Nuclear Power Station, situation was rather quiet and peaceful. Everyone was working in their part, until they sky above it was filled with jet planes.

"Is there any military training or some kind?" one worker asked as he spotted the numerous jets.

"Dunno..." his coworker replied.

But they weren't ordinary jets, they were Decepticon drones. Then a voice boomed over the speakers all over the complex.

"_All units evacuate! We have level 5 radiation leak! I repeat, evacuate NOW!"_ it was Fowler's voice.

And it was played from Soundwave's clip again. In matter of minutes, all personals of the nuclear power station evacuated using helicopters. Once the power station was emptied, the drones landed. And they began tearing up the place to reach the nuclear reactors.

* * *

"_Prime! We have situation!"_ Fowler commed the Autobot base again. "_An hour ago Bruce Nuclear Power Station in Canada was hijacked. All the people there were evacuated, and we have this on the security camera."_

Fowler sent the images of Decepticons storming the station. Soundwave was among them.

"The Cons stormed nuclear power plant?" Bulkhead asked. "What for?"

Another image showed up. It was the image of Soundwave and the drones placing something on top of the nuclear core. And that thing was Omega Bomb.

"Omega Bomb!" Ratchet gasped in disbelief.

"Don't tell me they're planning on making it go off?!" Arcee asked warily.

"And making the Earth and us into big fireworks?!" Smokescreen asked.

"Primus!" Ratchet gasped as he zoomed to the image. "The bomb is already unlocked and ready to be activated!"

"So?" Bulkhead asked.

"Unlocking Omega Bomb is not an easy process. They will require a guide module and activation code to make it works," Ratchet explained.

"Omega Bomb's operating module was stored inside Hall of Records, and lost together with the other documents," Optimus said. "And the activation code, only Primes, including me know about it."

"It means, they cannot use that bomb without the module and the code?" Arcee asked.

"_There's more. A voice message from the Con. I'll play the recording,"_ Fowler added.

_"Pass this message to Optimus Prime. I already took over of the one of the biggest energy source of this planet. The Omega Bomb is in my possession, together with your daughter. If you want her back, come to my location and give me the activation code. You have time until midnight, and you would do well not to make me waiting too long. Or, I would be out of choice, and you would not be seeing your daughter for the last time."_

__"Megatron..." Optimus hissed as he heard the message.

"Yeah, they have Aria..." Arcee said. "But something's strange. He only demanded for the code, not the module?"

"Even more stranger, the bomb is already unlocked. All they need now is the activation code. It could only mean, that the Decepticons have the operating module for Omega Bomb," Ratchet said.

"But Optimus said the module was lost!" Bulkhead objected.

"Not entirely, I memorized the module when I and Alpha Trion arranged it together. Only I and Alpha Trion have the knowledge of it, and..." Optimus trailed, when something struck him. "There was one more who knew about the module. It was Arianna...!"

"That's right, you said that she read the entire files of Hall of Records back on Cybertron..." Arcee also got the hint.

"If Arianna read the module and memorized it, it meant Aria also knew about it...!" Ratchet continued.

"Which means, the bucket head got the information from Aria!" Bulkhead concluded.

"Hey, hey, are you saying that she just spilled the bean out?!" Smokescreen was skeptical.

"It can't be. Aria won't give the important information to the enemies!" Arcee objected.

"It could only mean, Megatron was using some kind of method to get it from her," Ratchet thought out loud.

"Right, Megatron is famous for his interrogation method..." Arcee shuddered slightly. "Who knows what he had done to Aria, to fish out the module."

Optimus shuddered at the thought that Megatron interrogated Aria harshly. And if the secret was out, the Prime couldn't imagine the fate of his daughter after that. His spark immediately burned with anger. If Megatron ever laid his hands on Aria, the Decepticon tyrant wouldn't see the daylight anymore. Optimus would make sure of it.

* * *

But unbeknownst to Team Prime, Aria was willingly giving the module to the Decepticons.

"Preparation complete, Lord Megatron. We already secured the power station. We will be ready to charge the bomb with the nuclear fission," one drone reported.

"Rather than wasting our Energon supply for the Omega Bomb's explosive fuel, just use the humans'. Pretty clever," Knock Out said. "Lord Megatron, once they finished installing the bomb on the nuclear core, I'll go down there and continue the last list of procedures," he said as he held his scanner. On the scanner, there was the module recited by Aria many hours ago.

"Then, finish it, doctor," Megatron ordered. "Helios, Dreadwing, prepare the prisoner for our next departure. We will go down there, to greet our guest."

Dreadwing and Helios were guarding Aria, who was taken out of the brig. Her hands were still secured by electric shackles, and the jammer clamp was still on her waist. Megatron walked closer to Aria, and said,

"I already went this far, thanks to you. Make sure you know of what you were doing, or else..." Megatron threatened.

"Only if you keep yours, Megatron," Aria merely replied.

"Rest assure, Aria. You have my words. Helios would be freed," Megatron briefly glanced to Helios, and turned away. He whispered to himself, "After Earth is no more, that is..."

"I still don't believe you, daughter of Prime," Dreadwing said to Aria. "I would not let you stab Lord Megatron from behind. What exactly are you planning?"

"There's no plan," Aria merely replied. "I just throw my cards on the table, and wait for the result. That's all."

Aria glanced to Helios. The boy still kept his stoic face, but he stared directly to Aria's eyes. His stare somehow said something like 'don't to this'. But Aria merely smiled to him. She knew that she was playing the most dangerous and reckless gamble of all. Even Optimus surely would despise her for that. One thing Aria was sure, she had to free Helios as soon as possible.

* * *

Review please :3


	30. The Pride of Whites

_"Faith consists in believing when it is beyond the power of reason to believe"_

_Voltaire_

* * *

Bruce Nuclear Power Station was completely invaded by the Decepticons. Just in matter of hours, they already installed their own computer system inside the station. The Omega Bomb was being connected to one of the nuclear reactors, to absorb the radioactive as the explosive chemical.

"Lord Megatron, the overall setting is finished," Knock Out reported from Bruce A reactor. "Once the code's in, the charging process can start."

"And I am more than ready to get it," Megatron replied.

Megatron was in Bruce B nuclear reactor, together with Aria, Dreadwing, and Helios. Aria was strapped to the reactor, heavily guarded by the drones. Dreadwing and Helios acted as Megatron's guard. It was the day after the Damocles incident, and almost afternoon.

And finally, Optimus revealed himself, walking out of GroundBridge portal, all alone. He arrived exactly at the entrance of Bruce B, which was already busted open. Optimus' battle mask was on, indicating that he didn't want to play games.

"Optimus, as I instructed, you come all alone. Very good," Megatron complimented.

Optimus saw Aria being tied up to the reactor, and he clenched his fist in anger. He swore silently that he would get her back safely, no matter the cost.

"I assume we can cut short the explanation. The monitor in front of you is connected directly to the bomb's circuit center. Now, enter the code, if you'd please," Megatron said.

"You have to give my daughter back to me first, Megatron. Then, I will give the code," Optimus bargained.

"I will release her, but only after you enter the code," Megatron replied.

"Aria first, then the code. You have my word," Optimus promised.

"You are so desperate to get your daughter back, I know. So, I do not intend to make this a negotiation," Megatron said.

Megatron pulled out a small Dark Energon shard, and walked to Aria's place. Then, without warning, he stabbed the shard to the girl's shoulder. Pretty soon, Aria screamed out in pain, as the Dark Energon painfully invaded her system.

"_AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!"_

"ARIA!" Optimus was shocked. His fatherly instinct told him to run forward, but the drones stopped him by pointing their weapons to him. "MEGATRON!" he roared out in anger.

Megatron left the shard embedded in Aria's shoulder, leaving the girl screaming in agony. He whirled around to smirk evilly to Optimus. Megatron knew, that would leave the negotiation short.

"I said, no negotiation, Optimus," Megatron said. "Now, you'd better type in the code immediately. Or, that shard will stay there for quite a time."

It was painful for Optimus seeing Aria in such great agony. As if the Dark Energon shard stabbed him, not her. Optimus gritted in anger, Megatron had gone too far of hurting his daughter. He surely wouldn't let Megatron got away with that. However, the Prime knew he had to save Aria first. So immediately he walked to the said monitor. With his right hand, he typed in the code, and pressed enter.

In Bruce A, Knock Out noticed that the code had been entered. Omega Bomb was coming to life, and the blue lights glowed brightly.

"It's activated! Begin the charging process!" Knock Out instructed to the drones. "Lord Megatron, the bomb is active, and we're loading the radioactive."

"Very well…" Megatron smirked evilly. "Even in this circumstance, it is rather ironic that you were the one who would bring the end to this planet, Optimus."

"I have given what you want. Now, give her back to me!" Optimus demanded. Somehow, he lost his usual cool attitude.

"I did say that I am going to release her. But I did not mention anything about giving her back, did I?" Megatron said as he paced in front of Optimus. His statement made Optimus widened his eyes. "I would release her, after I release your head, that is,"

Megatron motioned Dreadwing to give him something, and that was a Cosmic Cannon.

"FATHER!" Aria gasped in horror. "NO!" the pain on her shoulder was quickly forgotten.

Megatron just ignored her, then he noticed that Optimus put a fighting position. "Ah ah, that is so unwise. Or your daughter will lose it," Megatron threatened.

Optimus knew all too well of Megatron's trick. Having no choice, Optimus put down his arms, and stood completely motionless. He couldn't risk Aria's life, he just couldn't.

* * *

Meanwhile, in the Omega Bomb location, Arcee and the rest of the team were hiding behind a building. They were instructed to keep low until being notified. Ratchet was among the team.

"Why does it take so long?" Bulkhead asked in frustration.

"Optimus must be still in middle of negotiation," Smokescreen remarked.

"Which, if taking a while, it could be a trouble..." Arcee added.

"Can we just attack now?!" Smokescreen demanded. "We can finish it real quick here and give Optimus back up."

_No, we can't! _Bumblebee protested.

"Bee's right. This is the safety of Aria we're talking about. If we make a careless move, it will be the end," Arcee said. "If Optimus loses his last daughter, that is."

"Hurry up, old friend," Ratchet said. "If we wait too long, they will charge the Omega Bomb's main core with too much ammunition."

* * *

Megatron pointed the Cosmic Cannon to Optimus, who showed no resistance at all. He smirked, then pulled the trigger of the cannon.

"NOOO!" Aria cried out.

_BLAM_

Megatron fired it, but then Helios jumped in front of Optimus and deflected the shot by his force field. Megatron stared in disbelief of what happened.

"HELIOS!" Dreadwing gasped in anger. "What in the pits of Kaon were you doing?! Are you still...?!"

"Stand down, Dreadwing," Megatron said as he took a step back. "It was the only natural reaction."

Megatron stared to Helios' eyes. They were still empty and dark, meaning that the boy was still under his control. However, Helios managed to make a move on his own. Megatron already had a theory for that.

"He's one of the Saint's incarnations. The duty of protecting the Primes took control of his body better than mine," Megatron explained. "Helios! Get out of my way! This is an order from your true master!"

But Helios didn't bulge.

"I guess keeping an incarnation of the Saint is really a bad choice. I will just terminate you altogether with Optimus then..." Megatron lowered the Cosmic Cannon, since it wouldn't have any effect on White Cybertronian. He aimed his own fusion cannon instead.

"Megatron no! You said you will spare him!" Aria yelled out more.

But Megatron continued to ignore the girl. He charged up his fusion cannon, and Helios remained completely unresponsive.

* * *

"The charging process is 5% complete?! Why is it so slow?" Knock Out snarled in frustration at the progress. For some reason, the charging process of Omega Bomb was incredibly slow.

Knock Out read again the module, it did say that the charging process was supposed to be slow. But if it was too slow, well...

"Don't tell me this is one of that crazy femme's tricks...! Wait, what's happening?"

Knock Out noticed the golden bomb was blinking blue light. As he walked closer to investigate, the bomb suddenly vibrated. It was a planet-destructive weapon, so Knock Out was shuddered at the thought of the bomb would go off all of the sudden. But instead of exploding, it just fired out a huge electromagnetic wave to its surrounding, eventually shorted out all the computers and electronic devices there.

"Scrap...!" Knock Out cursed. "Reboot all the computers, quickly!" he ordered the drones.

And the EM burst continued to widen hundred miles away. It even knocked the Autobot team who hid outside. They all tumbled down to the ground.

"What's happening?!" Bulkhead asked in confusion as they gathered themselves up.

"Looks like it was the EM wave, emitted from the bomb once the charging process reached certain stage," Ratchet explained.

* * *

In matter of seconds, the EM wave reached Bruce B. It made all the Cybertronians there tumbled down. And the EM made all the systems there shorted out, including Aria's electric cuffs and transformation jammer. The cuffs and the jammer opened up and fell to the floor.

"Now, why did you take so long...?" Aria muttered, as she removed the Dark Energon shard from her shoulder.

The drones quickly gathered themselves up, and Aria didn't waste any time to blast their heads, popped up her wheels, and charged forward.

"What was THAT?!" Megatron roared when he gathered himself up. Thanks to that EM wave, he was stopped from killing Helios. And as he whirled around...

...he saw Aria racing to his direction. She swung her rollerblade leg, and kicked Megatron straight on the face with the wheels. The force was enough to throw Megatron aside.

"Lord Megatron!" Dreadwing cried out.

Aria rushed to Optimus, completely ignoring Helios standing there.

"Father...!" Aria called out.

"My sweetspark..." Optimus let out a long sigh. "Thank the Primus, you're safe..." he bent down and placed both hands on her shoulders.

"No...listen, I'm so sorry. But I..." Aria trailed off.

But her words were cut by the firings from Dreadwing and the other drones. Megatron also managed to recover and joined in the firings with his fusion cannon and Cosmic Cannon. Optimus, Aria, and Helios quickly leapt out of the way. Optimus and Aria began firing back at the drones. Dreadwing then locked in firing fight with Optimus, when Aria dealt with the drones.

But Helios wasn't moving. He was confused of what to do. He couldn't attack Optimus, it was against his blood. Then again, since he was still under control of Megatron, he couldn't fire back at the drones either.

"Helios! I order you to destroy them!" Megatron roared to the stiff Helios, but no response. Snarling in anger, he finally decided to terminate Helios. He once again aimed his fusion cannon to Helios, and fired it.

"ADRIAN LOOK OUT!" Aria cried out.

Aria made it just in time to stand in front of Helios, and deflected the blast away with her force field.

"What are you doing?! Why didn't you dodge it?!" Aria asked to the boy.

"Helios, I order you to destroy her!" Megatron once again ordered.

For that, Helios could comply. The vermillion mech unsheathed his blade, and attack Aria. Aria responded by bringing out her own blade and defended herself.

"You can't attack my father or the Cons, but you're able to attack me? Why, that is just so great..." Aria muttered sarcastically.

After some more brawl, Optimus and Aria stood with their back facing each other, and the drones completely surrounded them.

"Father, you should go to where the bomb is," Aria said. "They already removed the protective shield, you can already target the main core of the bomb."

"What is that supposed to mean?!" Megatron asked angrily. "Aria, you tricked me!"

"Now, guess again. I did agree to give you the operating module, because you asked me to show how to _make it works_. But well, you never asked how _it works__, _right?" Aria asked back.

"Omega Bomb is in many ways, different from any other weapon," Optimus said.

"Why do you think there's even a module for activating it in first place?" Aria added.

* * *

"To activate Omega Bomb, there is a standard procedure," Ratchet explained to the team. "First, remove the protection shield, enter the activation code to begin the charging process. Wait until the core is fully loaded with explosives, then pull the countdown will start."

"Simple huh? Then why there's even a guide book?" Bulkhead asked.

"The most complicated task of all is unlocking the protective shield. Because Omega Bomb's main core is so destructive, yet so vulnerable. Even one simple disruption could short if off, and the bomb couldn't be used anymore," Ratchet replied. "Because of the that, a very strong and thick protective capsule was build around the core. And the operating module is mostly to unlock the complicated shield."

"And now the trouble shield is open. So, our main target is the main core?" Arcee asked.

"Indeed," Ratchet said. "And the Decepticons already removed the protective shield, the core must be open in the plain."

"The Cons didn't realize they're throwing open invitation for us," Smokescreen smirked.

* * *

"You...you gave me the operating module so I could remove the protection shield for you to destroy the core...?!" Megatron snarled angrily.

"The Omega Bomb's shield is the troublesome one, I think you already knew it," Aria said cheekily. "But you saved us from the trouble working with the annoying shield."

Megatron couldn't contain his anger any longer. Aria gave him the operating module so the Decepticons could open the protective shield, leaving the main core open for outside disruption.

"DESTROY THEM!" he roared to his drones.

* * *

"_Optimus to Ratchet!"_ Ratchet received the transmission. "_Raid the facility and secure the Omega Bomb!"__  
_

"It's our cue!" Ratchet announced.

Immediately, all the Autobots deployed their weapons and raided Bruce A at once. The drones who served as guard retaliated as the Autobots came into sight, but they were no match for the Autobots. They burst into the reactor.

"Autobots!" Knock Out shouted in frustration. He stopped working at the monitors, and ready to fend off the intruders.

"By the Allspark...!" Ratchet gaped at the sight of Omega Bomb in the center of the reactor.

"Save it Ratchet! So, what's the plan?" Arcee urged, as they began to combat Knock Out and the other drones. "It's the core right? Should we just blast it?"

"No, the core is already loaded with explosive chemical partially. We must empty the radioactive out of the core first, in order to dispose it without causing any collateral damage," Ratchet explained.

"I'll help you reach it. Bulkhead, Bee, Smokescreen, cover us!" Arcee instructed. "Let's go, Ratch!"

"Not under my watch!" Knock Out stepped in front of the two.

* * *

Optimus was fighting Dreadwing and the drones, when Aria and Helios engaged in their own fight.

"_Lord Megatron, the Autobots had arrived!"_ one drone reported to Megatron.

"What?!" Megatron gasped in disbelief. He had instructed Optimus to come alone, but the Prime did bring back up.

But there was more important thing to attend. Megatron couldn't let the Autobots to reach the Omega Bomb. He would make them pay for messing with the Decepticons. So, Megatron transformed to jet, and flew instantly to the Bruce A.

"Helios! Dreadwing!" Megatron called. "Come with me!"

Dreadwing nodded, as he transformed and followed his master to the open air.

Aria was locking her sword with Helios' blade, then all of the sudden the boy winced. Helios received order from Megatron as usual. But for some reason, Helios felt like he could fight against it somehow. And it was always Helios' wish to break free from anybody's control.

"HELIOS!" Megatron roared over Helios' processor.

The order attacked Helios' processor like electric shock. Helios clutched his head and screamed out in pain.

"Helios...?" Aria asked in concern. She recognized the symptom very well. Helios was fighting against the command, and it hurt his head terribly.

"It would appear that the EM wave from before damaged his neural control circuit slightly," Optimus said. "I have asked Agent Fowler to look for information how to disable the controlling program. Based on that, the control circuit could be damaged by external means."

"What...?" Aria whirled around and looked at Optimus in disbelief. "What did you just say...?"

Optimus replied by a fatherly look. "My dear, I know you want to save him. And it is my duty as your father to support you."

Aria was about to say something, but then a loud scream from Helios interrupted her. Suddenly, Helios got on his feet, aimed his cannon, and fired at the two Autobots. Both of Optimus and Aria managed to dodge it, and Helios continued to squirm in agony. Aria knew just how painful it was to fight against the command. And she could tell how desperate the boy was to break free.

"Father, go! Megatron must be heading for the bomb site!" Aria urged. "I'll handle him."

Optimus was reluctant, but then he nodded. The ordeal was between his daughter and her rival. So, Optimus transformed to truck and raced away.

_POP BZZZT..._

Aria whirled around to see that Helios' head started to smoke. Helios managed to bust the control circuit inside his head, thanks to his persistent fight. However, Helios started to roar loudly.

_"RRRAAAAAGHHHH!" _

* * *

"Helios, what are you doing?! I said, come with me!" Megatron, in jet mode, still attempted on contacting Helios. But there was no response.

"Lord Megatron, what is the matter?" Dreadwing asked.

* * *

Bulkhead, Bumblebee, and Smokescreen were securing Knock Out after they busted all of the drones. Ratchet was working on the monitor, when Arcee covered for his back.

"I will reverse the charging process to unload the radioactive," Ratchet said as he continued to work.

"Hurry up, Ratchet," Arcee urged.

But not for long, something busted through the roof, and it was Megatron. As soon as he landed inside the reactor, he took out his Cosmic Cannon and aimed it for the three Autobots who took Knock Out captive. Bulkhead, Bumblebee, and Smokescreen leapt to dodge it, but then Smokescreen got hit.

"AUGH!" the new recruit yelped as he crashed to the wall. Then, as he gathered himself up, he noticed that his shoulder was smoking and burnt thanks to the shot. But much to his horror, Smokescreen's injury started to spread Cosmic Rust.

"I assume you're trying to unload the radioactive in order to short out the Omega Bomb's main core?" Megatron said as he glanced to Ratchet.

"Smoke...!" Bulkhead and Bumblebee rushed to aid Smokescreen, then horrified to see that the bot started to rust. "What you've done to him, bucket head?!" Bulkhead snarled angrily.

"What have to be done! Be assured, soon you will follow," Megatron held up the Cosmic Cannon. "I would not let you mess with my property, Autobots...!"

Before Megatron could fire his cannon again, Optimus sped from the entrance and crashed into Megatron's legs. Megatron tumbled down to the floor and releasing the Cosmic Cannon at the same time. Optimus transformed, then widened his eyes to see that Smokescreen was infected by the deadly disease. Dreadwing was dealing with the other Autobots, when Ratchet rushed to Smokescreen's side.

"Doc..." Smokescreen whispered weakly as he held up his injured shoulder.

"The Cosmic Rust micro organism is eating his body rapidly. If we don't cure it soon..." Ratchet said as he examined Smokescreen.

"Then, turn into dust and join the Allspark," Megatron finished. "I will make sure all of you will."

* * *

"_Aria, we have situation! Smokescreen got hit by the Cosmic Cannon!" _ Optimus made a hasty call to his daughter.

Who was busy fighting with the berserk Helios. Helios' head was smoking, indicating something inside was fried to crisp. Aria knew it was the controlling circuit that got fried. But because of that, Helios' mind was in unstable condition, and he was fighting violently.

"What...?" Aria shocked to hear the news. "...I'm on my way...WHOA!"

Aria ducked another swing from Helios' blade. The sea-green femme really wanted to finish her matter with the boy, but one of the Autobots needed help. Aria knew, she had to put her team in top priority. So, Aria blasted Helios away, deployed her rollerblades, and raced away from Bruce B. But when Aria got to the outside, Helios rocketed with his jetpack and tackled Aria to the ground.

"Sorry Helios, looks like we have to finish this another time," Aria said as she dodged another slam from the vermillion boy. "Hey, did you hear me?!"

Helios couldn't listen, he just couldn't when his head was messed up. He kept attacking and attacking, until he managed to toss Aria into nearby building.

"Adrian!" Aria yelled out as she stood up. "Listen, you need to stop! I know whatever controlling you is gone right now! You have to fight it!"

"...Kill me..."

"What?" Aria asked in confusion.

"Just...kill me..." Helios whispered as he inched closer to the girl.

Helios couldn't take it anymore. His head was burning, and his body refused to move as he liked. He just hated it so much, and he already had enough. If death was only his escape, then so be it. He didn't want to suffer in the living world anymore.

"No..." Aria replied.

"JUST KILL ME ALREADY!" Helios cried out as he jumped and pounced on Aria with his blades on.

"No, I won't!" Aria cried back as she grabbed Helios' blades and pinned him to the building. "I want to save you, not to kill you, Adrian."

"Why...?! Is there any worth of it?! Of my existence?!" Helios cried.

"There is. And I will make sure that you know it too," Aria replied.

With a roar, Aria flipped Helios backward. Helios stood up, activated his jetpack, and prepared to slam the girl again.

"I think you need to cool your head a little bit!" Aria aimed her blaster to Helios, and shot a direct score.

The powerful white blast eventually sent Helios flying. The boy then fell to the cold sea outside the power plant. Aria watched as Helios plummeted to the cold water, creating a huge splash.

"You left me with no choice, boy," Aria sighed, then she raced to her father's place.

* * *

Helios was sinking slowly into the seabed. As a Cybertronian, he wasn't in danger of drowning. But, he made no attempt to swim back to the surface. His body was damaged quite a bit. And, he already lost his spirit.

"_Adrian..."_

Helios thought he was dreaming when he heard a female voice. It was a voice from someone he missed so much.

"Cassandra...?" he whispered back.

"_It's me, my baby brother..._" the spirit of Cassandra floated in front of Helios' face.

"Are you...coming for me? To pick me up...?" Helios asked.

"_No, it's not your time yet. Adrian, you are not someone who will give up this easy. You still have a bright future waiting for you."_

"I don't care. I can't take this anymore..." Helios sighed in defeat. "It looks like nobody wants me to live. There's just no one..."

_"There is one. The one who already sacrificed almost anything in order to save your feeling_."

"I said, I don't care anymore!" the boy cried out. "Sis, just...help me. Help me out of my misery. Just take me with you, please...!" Helios extended his hand to the soul, but Cassandra didn't respond, and just stared at him sympathetically.

_"Adrian, do you hate me?"_ Cassandra asked again.

"No, absolutely not," Helios replied firmly.

"_Then treasure also the love of the others. That way, you will know why you deserve to love, and to be loved."_

Helios gaped at the words his sister gave him. He had never thought about it the slightest. He always felt he deserved to be loved, but for what reason?

_"I love you, Adrian, I always do. And I only hope for the best for you, no matter what form it takes. I want you to live, live to your fullest. You have to have faith in yourself..." _

"Cassandra, wait...!"

Helios reached out his hands as Cassandra's spirit faded away. But as he blinked, he was already on the sea shore. It seemed like his sister came all the way from heaven to pull him out of the water.

* * *

"Father!" Aria arrived at Bruce A.

When she arrived there, Optimus and Megatron were engaging in a fight. Ratchet was tending Smokescreen when the other three Autobots were fighting with Decepticon reinforcement. Arcee was fighting with Knock Out, Bulkhead with Dreadwing, and Bumblebee with the drones.

"Smoke!" Aria rushed to Smokescreen's side. She wasted no time in bringing out her syringe and begin curing Smokescreen.

"What took you so long...girl?" Smokescreen gave a weak smile as the White Energon began to heal him.

"Sorry, a little business held me off. But...I took care of it," Aria replied.

"Are you alright...?" Ratchet asked worriedly.

"Never mind! I got Smokescreen under control. Just work on unloading the radioactive, Ratch!" Aria urged.

"So it was you who gave the operating module to Megatron...?" Ratchet asked in disbelief.

"On the flip side, he had the job done removing the shield for us, right?" Smokescreen argued.

"Right, it was my intention since the beginning. I knew you guys would come, and somehow disabled it later. But, all this trouble were caused by me. I'm sorry to involve you guys in this kind of situation," Aria sighed sadly.

Ratchet rushed back to the monitors, and continued to work on unloading the radioactive. Megatron noticed it, and aimed his Cosmic Cannon to Ratchet. Optimus interfered by knocking Megatron away. Knock Out decided to do the job.

"Coming up, doctor to doctor!" Knock Out jumped pass Arcee, brought out his Energon prod, and prepared to strike Ratchet.

Ratchet eventually saw it coming, and ducked an attack from Knock Out. He dodged few mores until the last one struck the monitors. The computer systems shorted out and broken.

"I needed that! DO YOU REALIZE WHAT YOU'VE DONE?!" Ratchet roared angrily to Knock Out.

"You don't need to yell. I know...of what will happen..." Knock Out stared worriedly at the broken computers, and to the Omega Bomb. "LORD MEGATRON! The main core is about to blow up anytime soon!"

All the bots there stopped in mid-track as Knock Out yelled. And it was the worst case scenario. Megatron smirked, he pinned Optimus under his feet, and aimed the Cosmic Cannon to him.

"Then let it be! This will be a warning for you not to play games with the Decepticons!" Megatron said, and he was ready to pull the trigger.

"Father!" Aria cried out.

But Megatron never had the chance to pull the trigger, something pounced on him from behind. It was Helios. He managed to knock the Cosmic Cannon away from Megatron's hands. And before Megatron could grab it again, Helios crushed it by stomping on the cannon.

"HELIOS!" Megatron roared angrily.

"Do you realize what you have done?!" Dreadwing, as Megatron's most loyal 1st Lieutenant, was angered as well.

"What is necessary, don't you see?" surprisingly, Helios could reply back.

Which made Megatron and Dreadwing widened their eyes in surprise. For the first time ever, they heard the boy spoke on his own, in very clear voice.

"It's my job to protect the Prime from any harm," Helios added.

"You traitor!" Dreadwing began to fire his cannon to Helios.

Helios flew upward to avoid it, and retaliated back to Dreadwing. But Megatron joined in the fight by jumping, grabbing Helios, and hung him by his neck.

"It is very terrible mistake to turn against me, youngling," Megatron threatened. "Did you forget that I was the one who saved you from rot to die in that misery capsule?"

"I may be indebted to you, but that's all," Helios merely replied. "It's not the reason why I should let you stop me from choosing my own path."

Optimus then knocked Megatron away, releasing Helios from his grip. "And it is very terrible action against young ones, Megatron."

"Adrian!" Aria came forward and helped the boy stand up.

"No, call me Helios," Helios replied. "I'm no longer the crybaby boy from 10 years ago."

"Lord Megatron, I recommend retreat!" Knock Out yelled out in worry. "The Omega Bomb will blow up in matter of seconds!" with that, the red car transformed and sped away from the reactor.

"Decepticons, fall back!" Megatron also knew it was time to retreat. Within seconds, they all transformed and fled away.

"Coward Cons!" Smokescreen snarled.

"Apparently it was a wise choice for them. The computers were broken causing the main core's trigger to be activated earlier. And, the main core is loaded. Partially, but this is enough to cause a massive chaos," Ratchet said as he tried to fix the computers with no vain. "With this, it will blow anything within one hundred miles of its radius."

"THAT big?!" Bulkhead gaped.

"I'd say we also bug outta here!" Smokescreen suggested, and Bumblebee agreed with a nod.

"Evacuation is not an option. If we let the Omega Bomb blows at this place, the damage will cause the radioactive to make even bigger explosions," Optimus said.

"Not to mention, the radioactive will leak and spread to nearby cities. And, we will be at blame," Arcee added.

"So, any suggestion?" Bulkhead asked. "Can't we just deactivate it?"

"The systems are out of control, deactivating it would be impossible," Ratchet said.

"But we can at least reduce the explosive power," Aria piped in. "I know how to do it!"

"Really?" Arcee asked.

"Once I reduce the explosive power, we can remove the main core to let it go off somewhere safely," Aria then rushed and climbed on top of the Omega Bomb.

"Yep, yep, yep!" Ratchet cut in. "Mechanical job is my part. I would not let any improvement on any device without my supervision!"

That being said, all the bots watched as Ratchet and Aria worked on the main core. They had no time to spare, so they worked as fast as they could.

"Okay, I've reduced the firepower to radius 5 miles," Ratchet said as he detached the core.

"Still too big, but better than 100," Arcee commented.

"The open desert outside this facility would be the best choice. Ratchet, give the core to me!" Optimus urged.

"No Optimus, we won't let the leader to do the dirty job. Give it to me, I'll blow it up in the desert!" Arcee protested.

_I'm faster, let me do it!_ Bumblebee said.

"But I'm much faster than you! I'll do it!" Smokescreen objected.

"A dirty job is for the Wrecker! Lemme do it!" Bulkhead added.

"This is getting nowhere," Aria shook her head. "Ratch, give it to me!"

But much to everybody's surprise, Helios snatched the core away from Ratchet's hand. He activated his jetpack, and soared off to the busted roof.

"HELIOS!" Aria cried out. She ran as fast as she could to the outside. She could see the boy jetted with the flaring core on his hands. "HELIOS, NO!"

_KABOOOOMMM_

The core blew up on the sky, forming a very big fireball. Then, it puffed into very big black smoke ball. All the Autobots stared in disbelief. But Aria had the most horror of it. Helios just sacrificed himself in order to keep the bomb away from the population.

"The sunny boy went fiery...?" Smokescreen asked in disbelief.

"ADRIAN!" Aria cried out in horror.

But much to their relief, Helios flew out of the smoke. He landed in front of the group in his human form, covered in black smoke.

"Force field," Helios explained shortly. "What? Did you really think I would let myself blew up?"

Aria reverted back to her human form, and without warning tackled Helios to the ground. When Helios looked at her face, Aria's eyes were wet.

"You idiot...!" Aria grunted. "I thought you...!"

"Thank you," Helios, surprisingly, smiled.

"You're injured...!" Aria brought out her syringe again.

"Don't bother," Helios prevented the girl. "White Energon won't work on another White. If you really care, you should pull me out of the water before, not leaving me freezing with the fishes."

"You threw me out of the Nemesis before this, so take it as my payback," Aria replied jokingly.

"So, let me get this straight, you abandoned Megatron and the Decepticons?" Arcee asked.

"You can say that," Helios said. "Since the beginning, I had no desire on being employed. I joined the warship because I felt indebted to Megatron. But I think, it's all over now..."

"Minor things aside, now that the Omega Bomb is already lost, for both Autobots and Decepticons..." Ratchet trailed off.

"It's better that way, isn't it? Now, who wants a doomsday device that can destroy an entire planet?" Smokescreen argued.

"We will talk about minor things later. Autobots, return to base. Rafael, open the GroundBridge," Optimus commed to the base. "And Helios, you might want to come with us."

"Wow, wow, inviting a Con to our base?" Bulkhead objected.

_He's not a Con anymore!_ Bumblebee said.

"Guys, that's rude," Aria retorted to her teammates.

But much to everyone's shock, Helios transformed his skin arm into cannon and aimed it to Aria. Immediately, all the Autobots went alert. But Aria just stared at the cannon and the boy with stoic expression.

"See?! That's what I meant!" Bulkhead cried out.

"Helios, you're no longer with the Decepticons. Is there any reason for us to continue the fight?" Aria asked.

"Which is why, I want to begin a fresh start. But I can't do that when I have unfinished matter," Helios replied. "Or, don't tell me you already forgot about your challenge a while ago?"

"No, I didn't. Yeah, this will be the perfect opportunity," Aria replied.

Aria did remember that she challenged Helios for a duel, when they discovered hologram projector. It wasn't just a duel for getting a prize, it was a duel for a pride. A pride as White Cybertronians, that was. And until now, they haven't decided the winner yet. Neither Aria or Helios would willingly let the battle hanging without any result.

"Father, guys, sorry but you have to go back without me," Aria said as she transformed her human arms into metal.

"Aria, are you sure about this?" Arcee asked worriedly.

"If you want a duel, you'd better do it after you recover from your injuries," Ratchet suggested.

"We're both fine," Aria reassured. "Though, Helios, there's one condition before we start it."

"No collateral damage, I know it," Helios then activated his jetpack. "I know somewhere good for us." And then, he soared to one direction.

"Wait for me!" Aria popped out her wheels and followed Helios.

"You're not gonna stop her, Optimus?" Arcee asked.

"It is between Aria and Helios, we must not interfere. I believe in my daughter's strength to bring back the lost one, as she already did," Optimus replied as he stared at Aria's direction.

* * *

Helios led Aria to somewhere very far from the Bruce site. The sun was setting, and finally both Whites arrived in the middle of a plain with a big river. It was very wide and flat ground, and far from human dwellings. With rock walls surrounding the area, the area itself looked like gladiatorial arena.

"This will do," Aria said as she observed the battle ground.

"It will be," Helios landed in front of Aria. "Here's the rule; no force field, no dirty tricks…"

"No flying in the mid air," Aria continued. "And it will end when one of us unable to stand."

"Deal," Helios replied with a smirk.

Both of them were still in human form, and brought their own weapons out. It was their first and last real duel, and no one wanted to lose. Their eyes did the talking, and when the time was right, they leapt from their footings. Aria and Helios started with a sword duel. They struck their blades to each others, with very powerful force.

_CLASH_

To be continued...

* * *

Review please :3


	31. The Rise of the Sun

_"The sun is new each day"_

_Heraclitus_

* * *

Unbeknownst to the two younglings, Optimus and the other Autobots followed to the battleground. But they decided to be only spectators, watching the duel from far away. Optimus already warned his team not to interfere the duel, as it was not their business.

"So, who's gonna win?" Smokescreen asked.

"My money's on Aria," Bulkhead smirked.

"But gotta admit, that boy is good," Arcee commented.

"Both of them already sustained mild damage, and they're going to damage their bodies even further!" Ratchet grunted in annoyance. "Why can't they wait until I patch them up, at least?"

"It is an unfinished matter that needs to be finished as soon as possible. For both of them to search for a new path," Optimus commented. "Especially Helios."

Aria and Helios continued to strike their blades to each other. Helios was the first to bring out his cannon and shot it at Aria. The rule was, no force field. So Aria just dodged it and leapt back. She transformed to Cybertronian form, and retaliated with her own fires. Helios eventually transformed as well, and both of the kids began the big-sized battle.

For Aria, excited was understatement. Aria was beyond happy. So was Helios.

"This is the first time ever, I fight with another White and half Cybertronian," Aria commented in middle of their hand combats.

"So am I," Helios merely replied. The boy kept his cool face, but he couldn't hide his own grin every time he clashed with the girl.

Aria was happy, because she finally found someone who was as equal as her. And the fact that she managed to save Helios, made her even more happier.

"HIYAH!" Helios shrieked as he swung his kick.

"Eat this!" Aria ducked the kick and punched Helios square in the stomach. "I'm still wondering, you got very awesome fighting skills. If you were spending 10 years as capsicle, who taught you?"

"Nobody," Helios replied. "I don't know it either. For some reason, I just know how to fight. By the way, are we going to fight or chat?"

"Such impatient boy, aren't you?" Aria grinned jokingly.

"But I still find it strange," Arcee said. "I know that your daughter is caring girl and all. But, I didn't expect her to go this far only to save that boy."

"That reminds me of Elita," Optimus said. "She was like that as well. So caring, yet so strong at the same time."

"By the way, it's almost 2 hours by now," Bulkhead commented. "Aren't they done yet?"

"Don't think so," Smokescreen observed. "They're still up for another round, I think."

True, Aria and Helios didn't show any sign of quitting after 2 hours of combat. But, they already showed sign of fatique. Even White Cybertronians had the limits, especially younglings. But, both of them already agreed not to stop until one of them fell.

Aria's waist and legs were damaged all over, when Helios' worst injury was on his stomach. Both of them panted heavily, and after 2 hours of nonstop fighting, their movements started to slow down a bit.

"You're good…" Helios complimented.

"You too…" Aria smiled a bit, as she held her injured right arm. "The victory will be mine…"

"I won't lose either," Helios replied.

Once again, they unsheathed their blades and charged to each other. Aria struck her blade against Helios' blade. They knew that they were on limit, and decided to deliver the killing blow. Helios took a step back and kicked Aria on the stomach. Aria retaliated by shooting her blaster to Helios, and one blast hit his shoulder. Helios charged forward, and slammed Aria into nearby rock wall.

Aria struggled to break free from Helios' grip, she did it by kicking Helios away. As she was free, the sea-green femme unfolded her blaster and tried to shoot the boy. Helios brought out his cannon as well, both of them fired at the same time. It caused both of them to fly backward, crashing into more rocks.

The rocks buried both of the Whites, creating smoke dust all around the arena.

"Wow, is this the end of the match…?" Smokescreen gaped at the scene.

"I wonder if any of them can still stand up…?" Arcee wondered.

Optimus was in dilemma, he really wanted to rush there and rescued his daughter. Then again, he didn't want to interrupt the fight. After few seconds, there were no movement from the rubbles, Optimus was about to jump in.

Until Aria freed herself from the rubble, Helios soon emerged from the rubble as well. Both of them already reverted back to human mode. They struggled to stand up, as they were both injured gravely, from the fight and from the rubble.

"Alright, alright! It's a draw! The match ends!" Ratchet announced as he stepped into the arena. He decided it was the time to stop.

"No!" Aria stopped the medic. "It's not over yet…!"

"You and he are injured! Both of you are too weak to continue!" Ratchet argued.

"He's still standing…" Aria said, referred to Helios who had trouble on balancing, but already on his feet. "…So am I…" Aria forced herself to stand up as well.

Only one of them would stand, and the other would fall. By that, the match would be over for real.

With a roar, both of them charged to each other. Aria threw a hook which was dodged by Helios, and the boy retaliated by his own punch. They were overly exhausted, and they wanted to end that soon. Helios managed to send his most powerful uppercut to Aria's jaw. The boy thought he was winning as Aria didn't show any sign of fighting back. But much to his surprise, Aria launched at him. She jumped and punched Helios' face as hard as she could. After that, Helios retaliated by grabbing Aria, trying to flip her over. Aria kept her ground sturdy, Helios' maneuver caused both of them to tumble into the river. The strong water current eventually carried them away.

* * *

Eventually, both of them were carried to the downstream. They both grabbed a tree root, and crawled out of the river. Exhausted, soaked, injured, they collapsed on their back on the riverbank. They laid on the ground, and watched the night sky at the same time.

"…I win," Aria muttered.

"No, I win," Helios replied.

"You failed to judo-throw me, remember?" Aria tried to argue.

"I grabbed you first, and flipping me to the river was considered dirty trick. I win," Helios persisted.

"Scrap…! I demand a rematch...!" Aria grumbled.

Aria started to hear a laughter, and it came from Helios. Not only that he smiled, he also laughed for the first time, at least for Aria's record. Aria widened her eyes a bit, but then started to laugh as well.

"Seriously, what's the funny thing?" Aria finally asked.

"Not really. I just realized, it was really fun. You know, it has been a while since I had this much fun…" Helios replied with a smile. "The last time was before Cassandra got hospitalized…"

Aria's smile faded hearing that. "Adrian…there's one more thing unfinished. I'm sorry for insulting Cassandra before…"

"It's okay. It's not like I've done something useful for her anyway," the boy sighed. "You know, Cassandra was always nice to me, that's why I loved her so much. But, if I thought back again, I was nothing but a spoiled little brother for my sister. I was lazy, slow-learner, childish, spoiled, crybaby…" he paused. "You know the worst part? I just realized it right now."

"It always happened," Aria replied. "I couldn't count how many times I wanted to correct my past. The most frustrated thing, I knew it couldn't happen."

"Yeah…" Helios sighed. "If I think all about it again, I didn't deserve Cassandra's love at all. There was no reason why she should care about her useless and crybaby little brother."

"There is. She loved you, that's all," Aria merely answered. "It's my first time hearing you talk this much, Adrian."

"You can call it 'confession'," the boy chuckled. "But well, you're the only one whom I can share about this. Because you're the only one who is willing to listen, besides Cassandra. My dad, my family, they all didn't care about my true feeling."

"I'm glad," Aria replied.

"Though, I have to ask. Were you doing this because I'm half machine like you? Or, because you took pity in me?" Helios asked again.

Aria didn't reply as she reflected back to herself. True, she was desperate to save Helios from being enslaved, because she was once like that. But, there was something more than that. Something more important.

"I still don't know why. But, I got the feeling if I didn't do this, I would regret it for the rest of my life. Regretting for something I haven't done, I've made such mistake once. I didn't want to repeat it," the ponytail replied. "It was horrible to see somebody else being controller by computer. Because I went through the same thing."

"So you too?"

"The program they used on you was being used on me in the past," Aria replied. "So I knew what it felt like. Horrible is just understatement."

"I may have no childhood memory like you, but I have my share of miserable past."

"What do you mean by that? Do you have some kind of amnesia?" Helios asked, curious.

"No, nothing like that. I was born miserable," Aria sighed as she reflected to the story of her birth.

"Mind to tell me?" Helios asked again.

"With pleasure, but…" Aria yawned tiredly. "…We still have a lot of time for it."

"…Yeah…right," Helios whispered tiredly, as he placed his head back on the ground, and closed his eyes.

Optimus and the other Autobots already scanned through the riverbank to find the two Whites. And as they found the duo, Aria and Helios were sleeping peacefully on the ground.

"Aria…" the worried Optimus walked slowly to Aria's side. "Ratchet…!"

"They are fine, just sleeping," Ratchet said as he scanned the two. "But, we have to take them back for medical treatment."

* * *

"_The cover story was already in place, and all the non-Earth based materials were scooped away before the press came. Everything is under control, Prime,"_ Fowler said.

"I could not thank you enough, Agent Fowler," Optimus replied politely.

"_It's my job. See you later,"_ and then the connection went off.

Meanwhile, there were deep discussion inside the base. They've taken Aria and Helios back to the base, and Ratchet already worked on tending their injuries. At the next day, both of the Whites were already in good shape.

"So, you didn't see what happened to that Silas, or rather, Cylas after that incident?" Arcee asked.

"Wish I knew, how about you, Helios?" Aria turned to the brunette boy beside her.

"I also didn't know. He was called by Megatron first, when I was brawling with you in the hallway, remember? But Megatron dispatched me to terminate all three of you, including Cylas," Helios recalled. "So, if I have to deduct, he may be no more."

"You mean, he was…terminated…?" Jack asked warily.

"Shame it, looks like you can't fine him, Bulk," Miko said to her guardian. "Megatron already did the job."

"And becoming science experiment for that Knock Out, I fear," Helios continued.

"You sure know a lot about the Cons, huh?" Bulkhead pointed out.

"He's one of them remember?" Smokescreen argued.

"Smokescreen!" Aria snarled harshly.

"Uh…I mean, was one of them…" Smokescreen corrected.

"No offense, we already knew that rogue Decepticons isn't all that weird by now," Arcee asked. "But, this is the first time ever we even invited one into our base. I have to ask, can we trust you Helios?"

"It's up to you, whether you trust me or not. Because I don't trust you yet, either," Helios replied back.

"Don't be that stiff, Miss Arcee," Aria said. "He's one of us now. Right, father?"

"I am more than honored to welcome another member," Optimus said as he approached the group. "If it is truly what you want, Helios."

Helios noticed the Prime coming, and soon he had this warm and adoring feeling. He stepped forward and transformed to bot mode to see the Prime in better view.

"Optimus, first of all I owe you so many apologies. For all the trouble I've caused to you and your daughter," Helios politely said.

"You did us nothing wrong, my friend," Optimus replied with soft voice. "All of your actions were a cause of simple misjudgement. I believe your spark was never belonged to Decepticon, even if you were fused with a Decepticon sparkling."

For Helios, it was the first time ever somebody had spoken to him with those kind words. Helios felt like he idolized the Prime in instant. Then, he crouched down noble style in front of Optimus.

"I don't know if this can make up for my mistake. From now on, I, Helios the Third White, will devote all myself to serve you, Optimus Prime," Helios made a pledge. "It was a sacred duty that had been passed from the Holy Saint. I swear upon my life that I'll protect you with everything I have."

"Wow…" Miko said in awe.

"So, I think this is convincing enough. How about you, Arcee?" Jack asked to Arcee.

"Hmm…" Arcee mumbled as she folded her hands. Well, at least she could give Helios a chance to prove himself.

"Rise, Helios," Optimus offered his hand to be shook, as usual. "I will be honored to have you as one of my teammates. The Saint may have passed her blood to you, but you are here as the part of our family. Helios, I wish to welcome you to Team Prime."

Helios then looked to the rest of the team, all of them looked at him with smile. Aria even gave him the widest smile. Helios couldn't help but smile a bit as well, but he already made up his mind.

"Thank you, it's my honor," Helios said as he shook hands with Optimus.

"Another new guy, huh?" Bulkhead commented.

"We don't have too much space…" Ratchet grunted.

_This place will be full_ Bumblebee said.

"I don't think so, Bee. I mean, he's not as big as the rest of you guys," Raf replied.

"I'm a new recruit of this team, but I already got a junior in very short time!" Smokescreen cheered. "I knew it, I really was destined for great things, as the lady luck always by my side!"

"About that, I'm afraid it won't happen," Helios cut in. "I don't plan on staying here."

"What?" Ratchet asked in confusion.

"My world was always so small, I want to go outside and see the big world for real. I was kept inside a capsule for 10 years. When I woke up, everything just changed so drastically," Helios said. "And besides, all this time I've been relying on somebody else. But now I feel this is the right time for me to start an independent life."

"What a speech from a teenage boy," Bulkhead pointed.

"Basically, I'm 24 now, even if my body stuck forever this way," Helios said. "So, Optimus, only if you don't mind. I'm still under your command, but I'll be stationed outside of your base."

"Your choice is up to you, Helios," Optimus nodded. "You're always welcomed here, you have to remember that."

"Thank you," Helios bowed 'noble-style' again.

"I don't think that is a wise choice, young boy," Ratchet argued. "You are now a traitor of Decepticons. And we all know that Megatron would not let any traitor live to tell the tale."

"Isn't that good? When I come for a visit, perhaps I can bring Megatron's head as a souvenir," Helios smirked.

"I'm looking for it," Aria replied with a smile. She and Helios did share so many traits. "So, where will you be stationed?"

"About that, I have a little request," Helios began.

* * *

As the day changed into afternoon, Helios was already outside the base, on top of the mountain. He was carrying a large box of tools, given by Ratchet.

"Are you sure that's all? You can take some more if you want. We have quite number of unused tools after all," Aria asked.

"This is all I need, I can't trouble your team anymore than this," Helios said.

"_Your _team, Adrian. Don't forget that you're part of us. So there's no way you'll trouble us," Aria cut in.

"…Right," Helios couldn't help but smile. "But, I'll do just fine with this. I have the key tool inside me, after all."

"That key tool you're talking about is magnificent, but it will come with a cost. Don't forget that," Aria reminded.

"I'm a big boy, don't worry about it."

"Ratchet is right about one thing. Megatron surely will come after you. Be careful, and if you need help, just call me," Aria said.

"And if you don't invite me for Decepticon slaying party, you'll have words with me," Helios looked directly at Aria's eyes. "I mean it…Aria."

Aria widened her eyes, it was the first time Helios called out her name. She couldn't help but smile and blush. Somehow, being called was a very nice feeling.

"So, are we partners now?" Aria asked suddenly.

"What…?" Helios baffled, and his face turned red, "Uh, about that…well, whatever you want to call it…"

"Great!" Aria cheered aloud.

"I should get going, or the sun will set before I get there," Helios turned around and brought out his jetpack.

"We'll be in touch, right? Are you sure you don't need a hand?" Aria asked.

"I'll be fine. And yes, I'll contact you when I finished. See ya," with that, Helios rocketed to the sky, leaving the Autobot base.

"Make sure you don't get caught by cameras!" Aria shouted as Helios disappeared into a dot in the afternoon sky.

After so much hard work, the result was paid off. Aria was glad that she was able to reach Helios' feeling. And what was more, saving his feeling.

* * *

Back on Nemesis, things weren't going well. Megatron pounded on the keyboard harshly, lashing every bit of his anger.

"I lost not only the Omega Bomb, but also Helios. How dare of that boy to turn against me, the one who saved his life?!" Megatron roared angrily.

"Actually master, it was me who found him…" Knock Out commented, but then shuddered when met with his master's glare, "Uh pardon my rudeness, my liege."

"If it satisfies you, I will hunt him and bring him to you for due punishment," Dreadwing vowed.

"If you can be bested by Starscream, what can I hope for you to retrieve more nuisance traitor?" Megatron snarled. "I would be the one who delivered Helios his own death sentence, when the time comes…"

"I do not intend to question you, my master. But, you were aware that Helios is a White, an incarnation of the Saint, whose destiny was to protect the lines of Primes," Dreadwing argued. "The chance of him turning against your cause, was too high."

"Lord Megatron is the mighty and wise leader for the Decepticons," Knock Out stated. "I'm sure he has a good reason."

"Because, the sparkling was from our own. Not to mention, Helios, the original one, was _his _son. I expected him to be the same. But it seemed that I overestimate the bloodline factor. As current Helios was inherited with White Energon of the Saint," Megatron shook his head. "It was a mistake I do not intend to make again…!"

* * *

Helios arrived at the jungle, the exact same place where Knock Out and Breakdown found him before. The busted hole to the underground was still there, and Helios jumped downward to the laboratory.

He walked inside the wrecked underground laboratory. As Helios looked around, he could remember vividly the time when he was being experimented. The memory of it was too blurry for him to remember, but he didn't wish to remember it either.

"Such a mess, but this will do," he put down the tool box Ratchet gave him, and opened it to reveal various tools.

He decided, if he wanted to make a fresh start, he should begin in the place where it all started. The laboratory, where he was created, was going to be his new home, a fresh start. Helios opened his chestplate, Heart of Solus Prime flew out and shone brightly inside the dark laboratory.

"I'm going to need some help. Time for put the creation ability into use," he spoke to the Heart.

It would be tough, but it was time for Helios. Time for him to rise and shine in the sky.

* * *

Review please :3


	32. Legacy

_"I live in solitude which is painful in youth, but delicious in the years of maturity"_

_Albert Einstein_

* * *

It was a day after the incident with Omega Bomb. For the Autobots, the end of one business meant the beginning of another business. So all of them got back to work immediately, there was no single time to let guards down. Especially in the race of getting the Iacon relics.

The base itself was rather quiet, Bumblebee and Smokescreen were out to locate Energon signal in Jasper. Aria was watching Optimus decoding the Iacon database.

"So Jack, any news from Raf?" Aria asked to the teen boy. "When will he get back?"

"Two or three days later, probably," Jack replied.

Aria didn't reply, merely turning back at her father. She sighed heavily, then leapt off the platform.

"Ratch, I'm off," Aria said as she walked to the GroundBridge.

"And where you're off to?" Ratchet asked.

"Helios' place, think that I'll lend him some hand in home makeover," Aria merely said when she activated the GroundBridge. "Just call me if there's something."

* * *

Meanwhile, Bumblebee and Smokescreen were speeding in Jasper streets. And Smokescreen was taking it bit too far with speed limit.

"Energon signal's getting stronger. Five klicks, due north," Smokescreen reported as he raced past Bumblebee.

_Smokescreen, watch the speed limit!_ Bumblebee warned as he drove behind Smokescreen.

"What do you mean speed limit?! I have a gauge in here that goes to 150! If the humans who designed my vehicle form here didn't want it to go that fast, they shouldn't have given me the option!"

But his words cut short as he almost collided with a truck driving from opposite direction. Thankfully, both of them avoided crash and stopped. The angry driver stomped from his vehicle and approached Smokescreen.

"HEY! INDI 500! WHEN I'M THROUGH WITH YOU, YOU'RE GONNA NEED MORE THAN A PIT CREW TO PUT YOU BACK TOGETHER!" the man snarled.

But much to the driver's shock, the car transformed into very, very tall robot. Smokescreen sneered at the man.

"Bring it!" Smokescreen challenged, "Who's the tough guy now, huh?!"

Bumblebee came into scene, transforming and preventing Smokescreen. If he even hurt a single human, Optimus wouldn't be happy.

"Relax, Bumblebee. I'm just messing around!" Smokescreen cackled.

Much to Bumblebee's dismay, the driver pulled out his cellphone and took a photo of the two. This wouldn't be good.

* * *

Aria arrived at the jungle where the underground laboratory was located. It wasn't that hard to locate the entrance to underground, there was an elevator hatch on the ground. It was disguised by some nature camouflage, but Aria's sharp optics managed to find it.

"He made that thing in matter of a night?" Aria muttered in surprise.

She walked to the hatch, pressed a hidden button, and a screen popped up. It was an intercom, then Helios' face appeared on the screen.

"_How did you manage to find this…?_" Helios asked warily.

"I'm afraid to tell you that this is pretty cheap camouflage, for an Autobot at least," Aria said. "May I come in?"

Soon, the elevator hatch opened up. Aria boarded it and headed to the underground. She was greeted with a sight of dark and wrecked hallway. But as she walked through it, she met with bright and cleaner laboratory room. Which was already remodeled by Helios.

"Next time I'll tighten the elevator hatch security," Helios said.

"Is that how you greet your buddy?" Aria asked jokingly. "Whatever, you're right about that. It's way too easy to be found. Although I must say, I'm impressed that you managed to build all of these in one night…"

"This room is pretty intact and sturdier compared to other part of this lab. And there are many things still usable scattered around. All I needed to do was scavenging the usable things and used it," Helios answered, as he worked on making something from the spare parts he scavenged.

"So these lamps, kitchen sink, fridge, and bed were from this wrecked lab? Can't believe it you make them functional," Aria said. "How did you manage to get electricity? And the water?"

"I reused the solar panel and generator," Helios answered shortly. "For the water, I got it from the river few miles from here. I reconnected the severed water pipes."

"You even managed to build a GroundBridge?! Wow!" Aria exclaimed as she ran to the gate portal. "Functional?"

Helios walked to the GroundBridge panel, and activated it for test run. The portal opened and ran perfectly. However, the size of the portal was too small.

"Oh my, only human can fit into that," Aria said as she observed the size of the portal.

"I know, but this is all I managed to build so far. I'm still working on expanding it," the brunette boy sighed.

"On the flipside, the Decepticons won't be able to chase you back home," Aria said. "I can't believe it, you managed to finish this in very short time. You're using Solus Prime's Heart?"

"Yes, but mainly to build this GroundBridge," Helios brought the Heart out of his chest.

"Then, how many White Energon you used up…?" Aria asked worriedly.

"Probably enough to blast Nemesis inside out. But I only used it to build this portal, because it was the hardest part. The rest of it, I used the tools, the scavenged parts, and my own skill," Helios said.

"That's good, just don't overdo it, okay. Shall we try the comm unit?" asked.

Helios typed some command into the monitor. He attempted to contact the Autobot base, and it succeeded. "Helios to Autobot base, do you read me?"

"_Oh, it's you?"_ Ratchet answered the call. "_You managed to build a comm station and made it functional?"_

"Rock with it! It's running smoothly," Aria added.

* * *

"That boy managed to build that level of technology in very short time…" Ratchet muttered in disbelief. "Is the connection shielded from detection?"

* * *

"I already set the connection shield you gave me," Helios replied. "Besides, this place is located underground. It would be hard for Megatron to locate the lab."

_"Well, with this I am able to contact you anytime. I hope you're ready for sudden duty call, Helios."_

"Sudden duty call or scouting, call me whenever you need me," Helios said. "Helios out."

"Can't believe you're this good with techs," Aria commented.

"I also have no idea. But when I touched those tools, I felt like I knew what I was doing," Helios replied.

"Nevertheless, this place is already like small apartment. I like it, I'd probably come here often," Aria said.

"There's surprise. I mean, this place has nothing," Helios chuckled a little.

"In fact, I'm rather bored back at base. Bee and Smoke were out. Father is still busy decoding the Iacon database. Which is why, we never spent family time together recently," Aria sighed heavily. "Kinda lonely, but can't be helped. This is for the team's sake…"

"He's trying his best, alright," Helios said. "So, bear with it. I bet he's doing this mainly for your sake."

Aria widened her eyes. For the first time ever, she heard that Spanish boy spoke so wise and so sweet at the same time.

"Wow, Adrian…I didn't expect you to speak like that…" Aria muttered, amazed.

Helios didn't answer, just turning away to hide his blushing face. He was never good with expressing such words openly.

"Anyway, just make yourself at home. But I'm afraid I cannot entertain you, I'm kinda busy," he walked back to his working table and continued assembling the tools.

"What are you doing right now?" Aria asked as she watched the boy did his job.

"Well, I just found this and this in the storage. I thought that I could make some kind of material that…" the Spanish boy started explaining.

Helios just didn't know why, but as he touched the tools, he immediately knew what to do with it. Then, as he worked on the technologies, it was like a déjà vu for him. A déjà vu which never happened in his entire life.

"_Aria, I'm sorry to interrupt your private time. But, I need you back at base,"_ Ratchet commed.

"Oh okay. But hey, what did you mean by 'private time'...?" Aria asked warily.

Then much to her surprise, Helios fired up his GroundBridge.

"Much faster this way," Helios said.

"Wow, thanks," Aria said as she walked to the portal.

"Here," Helios threw her something.

"What is it?" Aria asked as she received some kind of remote.

"My GroundBridge's remote control," Helios replied.

"Are you...serious...?" Aria was baffled. It was like being given someone else's room key.

"If you need something, that is," Helios said. "Perhaps this is the perfect time for me to pay a visit to Optimus as well."

* * *

"Found it! Ol' Road Rage didn't waste any time posting your mug shots," Jack remarked. "Raf will scrub this when he gets back."

"Is this always happening?" Helios asked as he saw the photo of Bumblebee and Smokescreen.

"Often. But can't believe we get this kind of photo booth picture..." Aria sighed, as she turned to Smokescreen. "Smoke, this isn't really the first time we got busted. But _you_ are so busted!"

"Is this what you learned while you served Alpha Trion?!" Ratchet asked in disbelief, "I highly doubt that he would have condoned such irresponsible behavior!"

"Blowing your cover is not okay!" Arcee reprimanded.

"Sorry, guys. I know I really messed up..." Smokescreen apologized.

"While Ratchet and Arcee are correct," Optimus began as he walked into the room, "I believe that we are all equally responsible for this incident."

"Us?!" Arcee repeated in disbelief.

"How?!" Ratchet demanded.

"We weren't even there!" Bulkhead reminded their leader before adding, "Well…Bee was."

"Our recent events have been so increasingly focused on preventing crisis that we have overlooked simple matters," Optimus replied.

"Father is correct, we're always busy with this Iacon relics race..." Aria pointed out. "Simple matters are also important."_  
_

"This includes teaching Smokescreen how to best function on this planet. It is an oversight that must be corrected," Optimus added.

_Family time included..._ Aria thought to herself.

"Optimus, I'm honored to train under you and will do whatever it takes to make things right. To make you proud," Smokescreen promised.

"Perhaps the best way for you to learn about the human world is from a human," Optimus suggested.

"Smokescreen gets his own partner?" Arcee guessed.

"Isn't having three humans here enough?!" Ratchet added.

Ratchet then earned glares from all of them. He merely turned away and scoffed.

"I was referring to one already among us," Optimus corrected as he glanced at Jack.

"Err, I think Aria or Helios here are the best candidates for teaching a new bot..." Jack suggested.

"Both of Aria and Helios are active armed members, they have to be on standby," Optimus said. "Could you do me a favor, Jack?"

"Err, sure, Optimus. Robots in disguise, traffic laws, don't beat down humans; I can bring Smokescreen up to speed," Jack agreed, and he climbed down the staircase.

"We've all put in curbside duty," Bulkhead told Smokescreen.

"Then let's go for a drive, teach," Smokescreen transformed to car, opened the door to let Jack in. Both of them then drove off the base.

"I really hope it will go well," Aria remarked to Helios.

"Optimus, with all due respect, Agent Fowler is out relocating Raf's family due to 'Cons discovering where he lives. Meanwhile Smokescreen, in all his wisdom, chooses a vehicle mode with screaming Double 38s on the door, making him an easy target," Arcee began. "I'd be lying if I said I wasn't more than concerned about Jack's safety."

"Nonetheless, the fact remains that our new recruit is in need of instruction. I believe that Smokescreen's spark is in the right place and that he now understands the necessity of protecting humanity," Optimus reassured her.

Arcee relented, Optimus always meant every of his words. Satisfied, Optimus got back on decoding Iacon database. Helios took interest on it and walked closer to the big monitor.

"Is that the Iacon database, containing all Decepticons ancient weapons?" Helios asked.

"It contained every location of the weapons confiscated by the Autobots, back on Cybertron. Not only Decepticon weapons, but also every class A equipment," Optimus said.

"Fetched from Soundwave, thanks to the virus Ratchet and Raf planted on Laserbeak," Aria completed. "And my father is in his element when comes to decoding ancient data."

"I should warn you, Soundwave also is in middle of decoding it," Helios warned. "And, you know better than underestimating his skill on technology knowledge."

* * *

"OK. Intersection. Let's review. Light's green…," Jack explained as he and Smokescreen drove on the town's street.

"Green for go," Smokescreen recalled.

"And yellow?" Jack inquired.

"GO FASTER!" Smokescreen replied as he pressed the pedal.

"SMOKESCREEN!" Jack cried as they began going faster.

Thankfully, Smokescreen came into stop when they approached the traffic light. Jack was breathing heavily, he almost had heart attack.

"Just messing around!" Smokescreen cackled.

"Ha ha," Jack laughed sarcastically, as he looked back, he saw familiar muscle car belonged to Vince coming, "Uh oh."

"Who is it? 'Cons?!" Smokescreen asked worriedly.

"Just someone from school I'd rather not talk to," Jack answered.

Jack tried to hide by shrinking as low as he could. Unfortunately, Vince managed to recognize him, and took out a burger from his seat.

"Drive!" Jack hissed.

"Red light, teach. No can do," Smokescreen said.

Then, Vince splatted the burger to Smokescreen's window.

_SPLAT_

Then the bully drove off.

"Seriously?!" Smokescreen said in disbelief.

"Just let it go," Jack muttered. As the light turned green, they drove off.

"Are you kidding me?! Where's your self-respect?! We've gotta stand up for ourselves!" Smokescreen protested.

"We've also got to follow Optimus' rule. It's not just about protecting humans. You can't harm them either," Jack told him.

"Who said anything about harming?" Smokescreen retorted.

* * *

Helios still watched intently on Optimus decoding the database, much to Aria's dismay. But much to Aria's surprise, Helios began holding his head and sighed heavily.

"What's wrong, Adrian?" Aria asked worriedly.

"I...I don't know..." Helios sighed. "When I saw something like that, I felt that I knew it..."

"Pardon me?" Aria asked, confused.

"It's like a vision," the boy added. "As if, I've been there, but actually not..."

"Could it be the memory of the original Helios?" Aria noted. "Like what happened to me. I have access to Arianna's memory, as if it was my own."

"Probably..." the boy pondered.

"So, what did the vision tell you?" the ponytail got curious.

"Dunno, it was all too blurry. But, I'm not that bothered by it," Helios replied. "Unlike you, I have never met with my Cybertronian body. So, I have no connection whatsoever with him."

"But, don't you at least, get curious? About the other Helios, that is," Aria asked.

"Not really..."

Before Aria could say something else, an engine sound roar cut her. Smokescreen sped back to base. Both of him and Jack just laughed loudly.

"I am so posting this tonight!" Jack decreed as he glanced at his phone,"Arcee! Check out what we did to Vince's car!" Jack cackled as he held up his phone.

"The bully?" Arcee guessed.

Arcee bent down to see a photo of Vince's car covered in burgers.

"Hey, Vince! Did you want fries with that?!" Jack cackled, and he burst into another laughter with Smokescreen.

"Let me get this straight. So you taught Smokescreen everything he never needed to know about fast food?" Arcee summed.

"He passed Driver's Ed!" Jack defended. "You work hard, play hard."

"Yeah. No humans were harmed in the making of those photos. Honest!" Smokescreen added as he walked away.

"They're always like that?" Helios asked to Aria.

"Well, not really. Smoke, I'm not surprised. But Jack, surprise is no end..." Aria said as she sighed heavily. "Miss Arcee, don't worry about that. I mean, it was just a small prank. Besides, you said it to me, this Vince is a jerk."

"Small pranks always result in one big mess, Aria," Arcee said. "And when I said about concerning Jack's safety, this is one of those."

* * *

Aboard Nemesis, Soundwave already decoded another one of coordinates. Megatron took notice of it.

"You have decoded the next Iacon coordinates? Excellent, Soundwave," Megatron complimented, "Then it is time to beta test our decoy!"

Megatron referred to something he held. It resembled like Cybertronian jar with a signal emitter.

* * *

"I am nearly finished decoding the next set of Iacon coordinates," Optimus said as he hurriedly typed on the keyboard. Then, an alarm went off.

"You may not need to complete your task," Ratchet stated.

"Iacon locator beacon," Aria pointed out.

"It seems the Decepticons have already excavated the next relic," Ratchet reasoned.

"Helios's right about Soundwave being the top notch, second notch compared to my father," Aria stated. "So, we shall begin the relic hunt?"

"Ratchet, triangulate coordinates and activate the GroundBridge," Optimus immediately instructed.

"Bring on the 'Cons!" Bulkhead challenged as he pounded his fists together.

"Let's go, boy!" Aria was riled as she slapped Helios' back.

"Me too?" Helios asked.

"Dude, when it comes to brawling with the Cons, all of the team have to go, it's the main protocol," Aria replied. "I repeat, _all_ of the team. You're part of us, in case it's not clear."

"Helios, you will stay behind to provide back up, in case of emergency," Optimus corrected. "Besides, the recent incident will make you number one target for Megatron."

"Aw, too bad..." Aria moaned, when Helios merely nodded dutifully.

"Where is Smokescreen?" the Prime asked.

"Out training again with Jack," Arcee answered.

"We cannot wait," Optimus decided, "Autobots, transform and roll out!"

They were all transforming to vehicle mode and raced off, when Aria, as usual rolled with her rollerblades.

"New guy for back up, huh?" Helios commented as the portal closed off.

"Optimus is concerned of your safety. Your rebellion makes your life at stake when facing the Decepticons. It would not be all weird if Megatron wants your head," Ratchet noted.

"Why is everybody treating me like a little child?" Helios sighed in defeat.

* * *

The Decepticons were busy excavating the next relic, per instruction of Megatron. But, it was a rare sight to see the leader himself was on the field work.

"Lord Megatron!" one Vehicon called after he pushed a particularly large boulder away.

"I certainly hope our latest acquisition is of Decepticon origin," Megatron walked closer. But what he found was the exact opposite of what he wished, "It cannot be!"

There was a sword embedded on the rock, and Megatron recognized the sword everywhere.

"Power of this magnitude must never be allowed to fall into the hands of Optimus Prime! No matter what!" Megatron proclaimed.

Megatron reached out the sword, and tried to pull it out of the rock. But it didn't move, no matter how strong and persistent Megatron pulled it. Seeing their leader was unable to remove a sword from rocks, making the drones looked at each other in confusion. Megatron then tried to shoot it. He shot it repeatedly until he formed a thick cloud of dust. As the smoke cleared, Megatron widened his eyes in horror. The sword was undamaged, even the rock around it wasn't scratched a bit.

"The rock is impermeable!" Megatron muttered in horror, "The relic is emanating a protective shield! It will only respond to the power of a Prime. We will remove it if we have to take the entire mountain!"

* * *

Back in Autobot base, another Iacon locator beacon was detected.

"Another one?" Helios asked.

"Optimus, I have picked up a second Iacon locator beacon!" Ratchet tried to contact the leader, but earned no response, "Optimus...?"

"Static?" Helios asked again. "How if I attend to the second one?"

"It's not advisable for you to go all alone," Ratchet protested.

"You want to let this one go into Megatron's vault?" Helios asked as he leapt off the platform. "Send me, Ratchet."

"...Fine, but only for recon. You have to wait until backup comes. Do not engage all by yourself," Ratchet said as he opened the GroundBridge.

* * *

Optimus and the teams still walked to find the location of the relic. But, the place was rather quiet.

"No sign of Cons," Bulkhead noted.

They continued to walk, led by Arcee's scanner. But little did they knew, the signal they picked up was from the bait. The signal emitter carried by Soundwave, to lure the Autobots away from the real relic.

* * *

Meanwhile, Helios arrived at the location of the real relic. And it didn't take very long for him to locate the Decepticons work ground. And, it was rather surprising for him to see Megatron there.

"Megatron..." Helios hissed.

And he noticed the sword embedded on the rocks. As soon as Helios laid his eyes on it, he got the sensation he felt from the Forge of Solus Prime. He knew it, the relic was from a Prime, and there was something more in it. As Helios knew that Megatron surely would take this one, he couldn't let the chance go away.

"Work swiftly!" Megatron urged his workers.

Then he was surprised by a sound of explosions. As he whirled around, he saw a vermillion young boy flying and shooting around.

"Helios..." Megatron widened his eyes, then smirked evilly.

Helios attempted to fly closer to the sword, but Megatron transformed, flew and smacked the boy aside. Helios struggled to keep airborne, and Megatron began to open fire. Helios avoided damage by casting his force field. Eventually, Megatron maneuvered and slammed into the boy from above. Helios crashed harshly to the ground. And before he could stand up, Megatron shot a direct score to him. The Dark Energon blast eventually infected Helios' body.

"UAGH!" Helios screeched in pain when the allergic reaction began to take place. It was pretty painful.

"That should be enough to keep you grounded," Megatron said. "I really want to finish it here and now. But I will attend it later, as I have more important things to finish...Helios."

Helios couldn't move thanks to the Dark Energon infected his body. Now he knew why Megatron was so feared. However, he wasn't the kind who gave up that easy. Slowly, painfully, he forced himself to stand up again.

"Nobody can ground me, not even you..." Helios hissed as he brought out his sword.

* * *

"Helios, what's your status?" Ratchet asked to the ex-Con, but no response. "Helios?! Answer me!"

Smokescreen and Jack were back at base, with more funny and hilarious prank story to behold.

"Oh, dude! My boss is gonna freak!" Jack cackled.

"That thing we stuffed in his tailpipe! What's it called again?" Smokescreen inquired.

"Pizza!" Jack burst into laughter again.

"Can you keep it down?!" Ratchet yelled at them. "Arcee! Aria! Bulkhead! Can anyone read me?!"

"Ratchet, what's going on?!" Jack demanded as he and Smokescreen approached the computer.

"I found another Iacon locator beacon, and I can't get the others. So, I dispatched Helios to investigate it," Ratchet said. "And, now he too, does not answer my comm. Something must be happening."

"I'll go," Smokescreen immediately volunteered.

"Alone?!" Ratchet questioned.

"You have better options? That sunny boy may need backup," Smokescreen argued. "And, I'm the only backup left here."

"It may be, but your field experience is...fine," Ratchet knew it was useless to argue. So, he walked and opened the GroundBrige for Smokescreen. Then he came back to the monitor to continue calling.

"He says fine. But I don't think he really wants me to go alone," Smokescreen said with a smirk as he glanced at Jack.

And for the first time ever, Jack didn't know whether he should refuse or comply.

* * *

Eventually, Jack complied and he went with Smokescreen.

"I just pulled a Miko," Jack muttered as he slapped his forehead.

"Let's go grab a relic!" Smokescreen urged excitedly.

They made their way into the excavation site. And as they suspected, Decepticons were already there. They looked to see the sword embedded on the rock.

"Whoa," Jack gaped, "It's a sword."

"It's not just any sword. That looks like the Star Saber, a legendary sword forged by Solus Prime, as lore would have it," Smokescreen explained, "There are also rumors that the Star Saber wields the power of the Matrix."

"Look over there!" Jack pointed to another direction.

Helios was there, fighting with Insecticons. But, the weakened boy was quickly overpowered. One strike from the bug bot, and he was on his stomach again.

"Looks like you were right about Helios needs back up," Jack looked worriedly.

"That sword is the legendary relic of Prime and that boy is best buddy of Aria. I'm going to make Optimus proud and his daughter adore me at the same time," Smokescreen proclaimed as he went to stand up.

"Not a good idea," Jack protested.

"Why?" Smokescreen asked.

"Looks like Megatron's on the party," Jack pointed out.

"The Dark Lord himself!" Smokescreen gasped, but he was pumped even more, "He won't know what hit him!"

"Smokescreen, wait! Something's wrong!" Jack cried, stopping Smokescreen as he stood, "Why doesn't Megatron just take the Star Saber?!"

"Germaphobe?" Smokescreen guessed with a shrug.

"Helios may need immediate backup, but we need to wait for backup as well. There's more to this than it seems," Jack reasoned.

"You heard Ratchet. Backup's not available. And besides, that boy could really use a helping hand," Smokescreen retorted as he leapt into the action.

The drones dragged the weakened Helios to Megatron's feet. Megatron stared at the boy menacingly. He really want to finish the traitor soon, but he had more important thing to attend. Megatron had to secure the sword...and the mountain, fast.

"ENOUGH!" Megatron roared, stopping the workers from removing boulders around the mountain, "Commence transport!"

A long grapple dropped from the Nemesis. But before the mountain could be lifted, there was a shooting sound. Smokescreen already leapt into action, and blasted a couple of drones.

"Who in the Pits of Kaon is that?!" Megatron snarled.

"Sorry boy. I came to help you, but I have to save the beauty first," Smokescreen said.

He made a grab to Star Saber. But like Megatron, Smokescreen was unable to pull out the sword.

"Scrap! That's really in there tight!" Smokescreen remarked. Then, one drone took him down by a shot from behind. Soon enough, the drones surrounded him.

"No! No! This can't be happening!" Jack gasped and he dug out his phone, "Ratchet! You need to get Optimus over here now! Smokescreen went for the relic! It's called the Star Sab...!"

Jack heard a loud stomp and growl from behind. As he whirled around, an Insecticon was above his head, much to the boy's horror. He made a run for it as the Insecticon began to pursue him.

"_Where in the name of Cybertron are you?!_"

But Jack was too busy running, so he couldn't reply back.

* * *

"And did you say Star Sab...?" Ratchet immediately put two and two together, "Oh my… Jack! Optimus, please respond! I can see that you're alive, Optimus! Why don't you answer me?!"

* * *

The Prime and his team were still walking around, chasing the Iacon signal. Which, already jumping everywhere.

"Ugh!" Arcee exclaimed in frustration, "Every time we get close to the beacon, the signal moves!"

"All of this legwork is giving me itchy fists!" Bulkhead said.

"This is really fishy. I mean, why would a Con getting a relic and then lead us for a sightseeing tour?" Aria remarked.

"It seems we have been lead astray by a Decepticon trick," Optimus realized.

"Old criminal trick," Aria added.

They whirled around as a GroundBridge portal opened. Ratchet ran out of it, with emergency on his expression.

"We have a situation!" Ratchet informed.

"What situation?" Optimus asked.

"I picked up second Iacon beacon not long after you left. I dispatched Helios and Smokescreen to investigate, and it seems that this relic is Star Saber," Ratchet informed.

Optimus widened his eyes at the news.

"A WHAT?!" Aria exclaimed in disbelief.

* * *

Jack was still running for his life from the Insecticons. To make things worse, there were three bug bots, ready to squish the boy anytime. Jack already regretted for his decision following Smokescreen. He wouldn't repeat it anymore, if he could survive that.

"Bring him to me," Megatron ordered.

The drones dragged Smokescreen, and tossed him at Helios' side.

"Hey, nice to have you here..." Smokescreen glanced at Helios.

"That's my line..." Helios whispered weakly.

"What is your name, Autobot?" Megatron asked.

"Why? Who wants to know?" Smokescreen responded cheekily with a smirk.

Megatron really didn't like a too easy-going Autobot. He raised his hand to punch Smokescreen, but before he could do that, a series of shootings were booming. The backup of the Autobots had arrived, mashed through the drones. Megatron looked around to see someone was missing.

"Where's Optimus?" Megatron asked.

The Decepticon tyrant finally spotted the Prime was jumping up the cliff, pursuing the mountain with the sword. Which was airborne, lifted by the warship. Megatron knew better than to let Optimus touched Star Saber.

"KEEP PRIME AWAY FROM THE RELIC!" Megatron roared.

He transformed to jet and pursued Optimus. The flier drones also followed suit. Smokescreen stood up and aimed his cannon to the air. One drone was about to shoot him again from behind, but Bulkhead thwarted the drone aside.

"I got your back," Bulkhead said to Smokescreen.

"Helios, you okay?" Aria asked worriedly as she aided the sunny boy. "Oh no, you were hit by Dark Energon blast...?"

"You were right about this being nasty..." Helios hissed painfully as he tried to stand up. The Dark Energon wasn't cleared yet from his system.

Aria shot a couple drones who loomed behind them. As the girl looked up, she could see the mountain, and the sword embedded in it.

"Star Saber...can't believe it's actually here..." Aria said in awe.

"You know that thing?" Helios asked.

"The most powerful relic of all, belonged to the first Prime, Prima," Aria explained.

"That's the reason why _it_ is there?" Helios asked.

Arcee spotted a group of Insecticons were digging rocks. Arcee immediately knew they were after something inside. And that something was Jack. One bug finally managed to clear the rocks. But before the Insecticon could grab Jack, Arcee interfered by shooting and kicked the bug away.

"Arcee!" Jack sighed in relief as she knelt towards him.

"What could you have possibly been thinking?!" Arcee asked angrily.

* * *

Optimus transformed to truck and sped to the cliff's edge. Megatron and the drones were hot, they desperately tried to prevent Optimus from reaching Star Saber. Optimus jumped off the cliff, he was hit by couple shots, but managed to transform and reached the sword's handle.

As soon as Optimus touched the sword, Star Saber glowed bright blue and released itself from the mountain. Optimus held the sword tightly as he landed back to the ground.

"Wow..." Aria gaped at the scene. "I can't believe it...the real Star Saber..."

"I loosened it up for him..." Smokescreen said.

Megatron was back at his warship. And he saw the entire scene.

"Drop the mountain on him!" he ordered immediately.

The mountain was released from the grapple. Optimus was still staring at the sword on his hand, and the mountain was rolling to his direction.

"OPTIMUS! RETREAT!" Arcee cried out.

"NOW!" Bulkhead added.

"Oh geez, that's the worst idea ever," Aria merely muttered.

Optimus merely whirled around, and swung the Star Saber. Only with one slash, the big mountain was slashed into two easily like birthday cake.

"Did he just...?" Bulkhead trailed off, speechless.

_Slice it...?_ Bumblebee finished.

"No way..." Jack whispered in disbelief.

"YES WAY! COOL!" Aria cheered, her eyes were glittering.

Aboard Nemesis, Megatron stared at the scene in horror. Then at his screen, Optimus looked up and winked. Megatron knew what it meant.

Optimus leapt, swung the sword and sent the most powerful saber wave to the Nemesis. It eventually caused the rear section of the warship to explode, and the entire vessel shook violently.

"He can do that?!" Smokescreen asked in disbelief.

* * *

The damage didn't enough to bring Nemesis down. But it already bring Megatron's wits downward.

"We Decepticons now face our darkest hour…" he muttered.

* * *

"For the most wrecking use of Star Saber in leader role, the winner is...OPTIMUS PRIME!" Aria cheered aloud as she ran to Optimus' side. "You ROCK, father!"

Optimus slid open his mask, and smiled to his daughter.

Aria smiled back, then glanced to Star Saber. She walked forward, and touched the glowing blade. One white light came out of the blade, it was another Heart of Wisdom.

"We got another one..." Aria clarified as she got the jewel on her hand.

* * *

After that, they all returned to base. Aria helped Helios and Ratched put him on treatment in sick bay.

"I'm fine. The Dark Energon will be cleared before the day changes," Helios reassured.

"Until then, you are under my watch," Ratchet firmly told.

"My watch as well," Aria added. "You're part of team, you would do well to remember that, Adrian."

"How epic was that?!" Smokescreen shouted in excitement as they all got back to base, "I saw it with my own optics. But I still can't believe it!"

"You know what I don't believe? After everything you've been told, you still put a human at risk!" Arcee snarled.

"It's totally different from what my father instructed you, Smoke," Aria said. "Not to mention, it's one of my friends you carry in your luggage to the battlefield."

"Arcee, Aria, it's not his fault. I shouldn't have even...," Jack was cut off.

"Don't even start with me! We'll talk tomorrow! Send Jack home!" Arcee instructed.

Ratchet nodded and opened a bridge for Jack. Jack glanced to Smokescreen before he left.

"About what you asked in the forest, I'll text you some ideas," Jack promised.

"Green for go," Smokescreen muttered.

As Jack went home, Optimus was reprimanding another one of their new recruit.

"Helios, I accepted fully that you are not under my direct command. But taking the Decepticons into your own matter was not a wise choice," Optimus reprimanded. "The thing that I definitely could not look over. It goes same for you, Smokescreen."

"You've got that right! We've been needing another Autobot in our ranks. Not another child!" Arcee continued.

"Look, Arcee, I was wrong. And I'm sorry…again," Smokescreen apologized, "And if you need to kick me off Team Prime…"

"Disregard for human safety or anyone's safety will not be tolerated. Do you understand?" Optimus said with firm tone.

"Fully, sir," Smokescreen nodded.

"We must never lose fact that upon this Earth, we are titans, or born of titans and such power must be used wisely," Optimus told everyone in the room.

"Born as titans, did you hear that?" Aria whispered to Helios.

"Much better than born as working machines," Helios replied back.

Star Saber glowed bright blue in Optimus' hands. Optimus stared at it, and somehow his eyes went blank.

"Optimus? Speak to me!" Ratchet asked out worriedly.

"I'm receiving a message," Optimus merely replied.

"From who?" Ratchet asked.

"Alpha Trion," Optimus replied.

At the same time, Aria's chest plate glowed white. The Heart of Wisdom she fetched before flew out, and hovered in front of the two Whites.

"It seems we have our own message as well," Aria said.

"Alpha Trion too?" Smokescreen asked.

"Prima, the one who owned this Heart, and the sword," Helios replied.

* * *

For those who wondered about Helios' station, look to my page and link directly to my Facebook album. There are also several more images based on TFP White Energon. I'm still working on adding more pictures. Review please :3


	33. AlphaOmega

_"Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world"_

_Nelson Mandela_

* * *

"Forgive me, Lord Megatron. While I do not question the wisdom of our tactical retreat, know that I am fully prepared to lead the troops in a counter attack against the Autobots," Dreadwing proclaimed.

"Counter attack?!" Megatron snarled to his second in command, "Perhaps you failed to notice Optimus and cleave an entire mountain with a single blow! With the Star Saber in his possession along with, my enemy can oblviate us all with a single wave of their hands! I must find a way to tip the balance of power back in our favor!"

"Do we also not possess a powerful relic of the Ancients?" Dreadwing inquired.

"Indeed. The Forge of Solus Prime," Megatron nodded, "But it is useless except in the hands of a Prime."

Then Megatron formed an idea on his own, which made him chuckling evilly.

"But I might be able to wield that power if I were to control such a hand," Megatron mused with a chuckle.

* * *

"Optimus, what is Alpha Trion saying?" Ratchet asked.

"_I wished I could reach you under better circumstances, Optimus Prime. But I fear that Iacon would not stand the next Decepticon assault,_" Alpha Trion said in Optimus' vision.

"So you speak to me from across the ages...?" Optimus spoke.

"_If you are listening to this message, then I take it that you now possess the Star Saber. I am certain that you have deduced how these Cybertronian relics and Decepticon weapons came to be found on such remote world. Indeed I transported them there. Not so much to keep them far from Megatron's hand, but to ensure that they reach yours. As you may have long suspected, the Covenant of Primus records events of the future as well as the past."_

_"My __imperfect_ understanding of its runes affords me of a shadowy glimpse of what is to come. The Covenant's pages foretold that you, Optimus Prime, would journey to there small but significant planet and there engage in a crucial chapter of the war against the Decepticons. It was also foretold that Parthonus, our Saint, would be reborn as soldiers to protect you. Even if they were destined as the Guardian for the Wise, one of them shall remain as the guardian of your very life." 

"So you already know, about the birth of my second daughter. And the short life of my first daughter, Arianna..." Optimus said.

_"Even I cannot understand the fact behind life and death. When the death of your daughter was not within our understanding, the Saint would make the wisest of choice. I know neither the nature of the battle nor its outcome. I only hope that these relics of the ancients will aide the Autobots in your time of need. The most important, in the few moments, I would launch the last of the relics. The most significant, and powerful of them all..."_

* * *

Aria and Helios were in middle of conversation as well, with Prima.

"The first Cybertronian ever to be created, the first of the line of Prime..." Aria muttered. "And the most powerful of all...who was known as the Warrior of Light..."

_"Indeed, but it was only for once at a time. Different from you, who will always present in living world,"_ Prima said.

"We're not the Saint," Helios replied.

"_But your spirits and souls are. As the line of Primes still continues to live on, so do your spirits. A peace could only be created from chaos, and so chaos would live on forever. No matter what universe we may dwell in, we would know the taste of total destruction."_

"We won't let it. Absolutely," Aria replied. "That's one of reasons of our very existence."

"_Indeed. As the first of the Primes, it really brings an embarrassment for me, of not capable preventing such catastrophe. But, it comforts me to know that the wise of Primus would continue to be passed down."_

"You can count on the last Prime, Optimus," Helios stated. "He may be the last, but not least."

_"As my world and your world are now so distant, I fear that I do not have too much time. The Primes, especially me, were indebted for life of the Saint. Before she went to join the Allspark, she entrusted me with treasures to be passed down to her incarnations. The Saint's holy weapons, forged from her very blood..."_

Prima extended his hands, then five set of weapons emerged from very bright white light.

"Never know that Parthonus had collection of weapons. I thought she was specialized in defense, not offense," Aria commented.

"There are still lot of things she hadn't told us yet. But you have to remember that she was a fearsome warrior. After all, the best defense is offense," Helios replied. "Most of those weapons aren't for close combat, anyway."

_"They are all yours to be used. Per instruction of the Saint, I bestowed upon my Heart, my own light." _

"Pardon?" Aria asked.

"_As the master archivist Alpha Trion already foretold, based on Covenant of Primus, the home world of us would be once again at stake. It is already our sacred duty to ensure the peace and life of all Cybertronians. So, the fate of our planet's future would be burdened to the current living Prime."_

"And we White Cybertronians, as Parthonus' reincarnation, would ensure that nothing gets in the Prime's way," Aria completed.

_"As the Saint already sacrificed her own life to do so. There would be a time when the incarnations would have to choose a certain path. It is needed as last resort. If the current living Prime is rendered not capable, that is."_

"It's already our path," Helios stated. "And, our choosing."

_"I have bestowed upon my Heart, the very beacon to our creator. When it is time for you to use it, it is time for you to make the decision. Should the power of regeneration fail, and the last resort is rebirth. I trust you for the wisest of choice, as I wished for you not to never use it." _

* * *

Optimus fell to his knees as the message ended. Ratchet helped him to stand up.

"Easy, Optimus," Ratchet said.

"So, did Alpha Trion ask about me?" Smokescreen asked.

"What was the message?" Bulkhead shoved the new recruit aside.

"It is paramount that we recover the final four Iacon relics," Optimus announced, "The Omega Keys."

"Keys?" Arcee asked in confusion.

"To what?" Ratchet demanded.

"To the regeneration of Cybertron," Aria answered, and then everyone glanced at her, "Only speculation, because Prima told me something like that. Am I right, father?"

"Indeed, Aria," Optimus nodded.

"Prima told you about the Omega Keys?" Ratchet asked.

"Not really..." Helios replied, but not wanting to answer further, "But, Parthonus entrusted her weapons to him, so they could be passed down to us."

_Weapons?_ Bumblebee asked.

"What kind of weapon?" Smokescreen inquired.

"Secret, you have to wait for the surprise," Aria winked, "So Helios, who shall keep Prima's Heart? You or me?"

"I'll hand it to you," Helios said.

"Okay," the girl then commanded the jewel to go inside her spark, "Two on my storages."

* * *

Meanwhile, the Nemesis was on journey to the moon, with Megatron and Dreadwing standing on the roof.

"Earth's moon is a barren rock, is it not?" Dreadwing asked Megatron.

"Indeed, Dreadwing," Megatron nodded in agreement, "But the moon is not our destination."

Dreadwing immediately spotted Space Bridge stationed in the dark side of the moon.

"A Space Bridge!" Dreadwing gasped.

"Our very own. Relocated after the Autobots discovered its whereabouts on Earth. The dark side of the moon is hidden from prying human eyes. And more importantly, well out of the Autobots' reach," Megatron clarified, "Come, Dreadwing! We shall travel to the one place in the galaxy which may provide the means of defeating Optimus Prime, and perhaps my own protection against the Saint's incarnations."

With that, both of them transformed to jet, and travelled through the Space Bridge.

* * *

"Pack your gear! We're going back to Cybertron!" Bulkhead cheered.

_I can't believe it!_ Bumblebee beeped.

"Believe it now, Bumblebee! Civilization at last!" Ratchet cackled in happiness.

"But I just got here!" Smokescreen argued.

"I remember oil baths! First thing I'm gonna do planet side is soak for a whole solar cycle!" Arcee said.

"I can't wait to tell Miko!" Bulkhead said, but then it hit them. If they were returning back to Cybertron, it meant one thing.

"And Jack," Arcee sighed.

_And Raf..._ Bumblebee bleeped sadly.

"There's always downside for everything," Aria remarked, as she and Helios observed from the platform.

"Thankfully, it does little impact on us," Helios stated.

"You really think so, Adrian?" Aria sighed.

"Er, Optimus, keys open doors. Can they really revive an entire planet?" Smokescreen asked.

"While I am unfamiliar about the lore of these Omega Keys, Alpha Trion knew many secrets," Optimus stated, "The technology of the ancients has long been lost to the conventions of modern science."

"You've been with Alpha Trion for quite a time, Smoke," Aria said, "His skill wasn't to be underestimated. He was the only one who knew about my sister's death even before it happened."

* * *

Meanwhile, Megatron and Dreadwing arrived at Cybertron. They soared through the dark sky, and observed the ruin on their home planet.

"The devastation to our home world is worse than I remember," Dreadwing sneered, "Curse the Autobots to the pit! And that incarnation of Saints. They said that their duty is to protect Cybertron?!"

"Their _duty_ is to protect the Primes," Megatron replied.

* * *

"Whatever their function, this much is certain," Optimus began,"Without having all four Omega Keys in our possession, we can't revive Cybertron."

"Which means we can't afford a single one falling to Megatron," Arcee surmised.

"Absolutely," Aria added.

"Four sets of coordinates from Alpha Trion remain encrypted. It is logical to conclude that each coordinates correspond to the location of the Omega Keys," Optimus went on, "I do not wish to wait until I decode them all. The future of our home world depends on it."

"Helios, do you think we should tell my father?" Aria whispered.

"Prima said it, we have to wait for the necessary time," Helios said, "It'll be the best if we just keep it for a moment."

* * *

Megatron and Dreadwing arrived at some location.

"A tomb!" Dreadwing gasped.

"One known to contain the remains of Primes," Megatron explained, then he noticed Dreadwing just stayed behind, "Please, tell me you are not adverse to desecration."

"It is just that being in such a place evokes powerful emotions," Dreadwing muttered sadly, "Considering the fate of my twin."

"Then you should delight in our purpose here," Megatron said, "To extract our revenge on Skyquake and of all our fallen brethren…"

That alone made Dreadwing moved on and removed the cover of the coffin. Then, as it opened, it revealed the deceased body of a Prime. Megatron unsheathed his blades, and swung it.

* * *

Aria's spark suddenly skipped a beat.

"...Did you feel that?" Aria asked to Helios as she tried to calm herself down.

"Yeah..." Helios muttered. "Looks like something just happened outside of our sight, but not under our watch."

The four Autobots were in discussion.

"I know it feels funny saying this. But I'm not sure I want to go back," Arcee confessed.

"Who knew we'd ever get so used to our new home?" Bulkhead asked.

_I don't want to leave Raf_ Bumblebee immediately said.

"Yeah. I don't think I'd ever want to leave Miko," Bulkhead admitted.

"We've made friends here. Family," Arcee stated.

"We could always…text them" Ratchet suggested with a shrug.

"Not helping Ratch," Aria sneered, "It's not that easy to leave a planet where you were born..." then, she earned stares from the others, "What?"

"You're not saying you come with us...?" Arcee asked.

"The only option we have," Helios said. "You really think we have other place to go, should you go home for real?"

"I have a father, and we're Prime's guardians," Aria added, "We go where the Prime goes."

"You'll say that Optimus will need his personal guards after we get back? But well, after fighting the war for so long, it feels like I can't do anything else!" Bulkhead changed topic.

"You could always go back to construction," Ratchet suggested, "The power of the ancients may be able to breathe life back into the planet's core. But our war-ravaged cities will surely require rebuilding."

"I wouldn't make any travel plans just yet. We still have to find the Omega Keys and secure them before the 'Cons do," Arcee pointed out.

"Yeah, like that will be a problem," Smokescreen scoffed, "Optimus as the Star Saber now! Megatron's end is in sight!"

"I certainly wish for that, Smoke," Aria trailed off, "But, the exact opposite will always happen..."

"Come on, you guys! Why so pessimist?" Smokescreen asked.

"We're not pessimist, just wondering," Helios said, "Something we really don't want to happen, happened few moments ago..."

* * *

Megatron was back on his warship, and he was in Knock Out's lab.

"Yes, I can do it, Lord Megatron. If you're certain that's what you really want," Knock Out answered.

"Like nothing I've ever desired before, doctor," Megatron rumbled.

"I shall induce stasis..." Knock Out trailed.

"NO!" Megatron objected, "I wish to bear witness as you attach my new appendage."

"Coming up," Knock Out nodded as he brought out his circular saw.

Megatron peered to the corner. He stared at the thing he recovered from the tomb, the arm from a Prime. Because he already severed a body part of Prime, it didn't went unnoticed by Aria and Helios, who were entrusted as the protector of Primes. But, they certainly had no idea of what would happen.

* * *

"Autobots, I have decoded the first set of the final four coordinates!" Optimus proclaimed, "You all will be dividing into teams in case the two of us decode another set of coordinates before the first team return to base."

"I'm on team 1!" Smokescreen immediately volunteered, "Who's with me?!"

"I'll go," Arcee answered as she stepped forward.

"After you, sir…ma'am…commander," Smokescreen stuttered nervously, "Miss Arcee...? Oh sorry, you don't like it, do you?"

"This will be interesting," Ratchet muttered as he activated the GroundBridge.

"He should know better than hitting Miss Arcee's bad side," Aria smirked as she folded her hands,"I should warn you too, Helios."

"No need, because I've had the exact same experience, with you," Helios stated dryly.

"WHAT?!" Aria barked angrily.

"See?" Helios smirked.

* * *

Megatron was already attached with the new arm. He put it into use by grabbing The Forge of Solus Prime. And much to his delight, the Forge came to life.

"Yes...! At long last, the Power of the Primes belongs to me!"

* * *

Arcee and Smokescreen arrived at somewhere in Egypt desert. Close to the pyramids and Sphinx.

"First ones here," Smokescreen declared after a brief check of the area.

"No locator beacon. Which means the relic is still buried. Right about…there," Arcee walked to one pyramid.

* * *

Megatron was in middle of creating something with the Forge.

"The Forge of Solus Prime possesses the ability to create anything from raw material," Dreadwing stated.

"And in this case, the raw material would be a great hunk of Dark Energon," Knock Out added.

* * *

"Er, Arcee, I owe you an apology. I never meant to endanger Jack. Humans squish easily! I get that now!" Smokescreen promised.

"This isn't just about Jack! Team Prime can't afford any casualties! Human or bot!" Arcee reprimanded, before walking away, "I've already lost two seasoned partners! I don't need a rookie on my scorecard!"

"Not gonna happen. Elite Guardsman honor," Smokescreen promised, and then he remembered something, "Wait! You've lost two partners?!"

* * *

As Megatron was still in middle of work, Soundwave approached him with a news.

"You have decoded the next set of Iacon coordinates. Excellent work, Soundwave," Megatron complimented.

* * *

Arcee and Smokescreen entered the pyramid, and they had to slightly crouched to stroll the tunnel inside.

"Heh. Nice of the humans to pile a ton of rocks on top of our relic, huh?" Smokescreen joked.

Arcee's scanner beeped like crazy. At that spot, a glyph depicted something really sacred was kept there.

"Pretty much spells things out, doesn't it?" Smokescreen remarked.

"Come on. Help me move this," Arcee requested.

Both of them removed the rock, and revealed the relic. The Omega Key. Smokescreen took it, and they walked out of the pyramid.

"The Ancient Humans must have thought the Omega Key was a gift from the Gods," Smokescreen guessed.

"And in a sense, they weren't wrong," Arcee smirked slightly.

But as they exited, trouble standing in front of them in form of Megatron.

"The relic…now," Megatron demanded.

"Two against one. We can take him!" Smokescreen said, as he prepared for a fight.

Megatron took a purple sword and presented it to the two Autobots. The sword was glowing bright purple, the color of Dark Energon. Megatron was well known to be merciless. Arcee knew that they had to retreat, fast.

"Ratchet! GroundBridge! NOW!" Arcee immediately requested.

Megatron swung the sword and unleashed purple saber to the two. It sent Arcee and Smokescreen flying with very mighty force. The Omega Key was tossed from Smokescreen's hand. Smokescreen was the first one to recover, he deployed his cannons and started firing at Megatron. Megatron deflected away all of the blasts, and delivered one more purple saber. It hit direct score to Smokescreen, sent him flying crashing to the pyramid.

"SMOKESCREEN!" Arcee cried out in horror as she couldn't see Smokescreen anywhere. As if he was crushed to sand.

"What manner of treasure did Iacon send us this time?" Megatron asked as he picked up the relic, "I could slice you into two right now. But I need you to deliver a message. Tell Optimus Prime that if he wants this relic, he has to come and gets it himself."

* * *

"And then Smokescreen was just…gone," Arcee told everyone what happened as she was back, "Like he turned to dust."

"It can't be..." Aria gasped in disbelief.

"Poor kid," Bulkhead sighed sadly.

"Arcee, do not blame yourself. It could just as been easily been you..." Ratchet reminded her.

"I say we go claim a piece of Megatron's miserable hide!" Bulkhead said as he and Bumblebee walked to the GroundBridge.

"We will make him pay!" Aria said as she jumped off the platform.

"No!" Optimus immediately stopped them, "We have already lost another one of our own today. I will not risk anymore lives, especially you, my daughter. Given what Arcee has witnessed, it stands to reason that Megatron now possesses the equal of Star Saber. Which means only I have the chance to recover the Omega Key."

"The fate of Cybertron rests upon its retrieval," Ratchet reminded.

"Whether Megatron knows it or not," Bulkhead piped in.

"Then, take me with you," Aria volunteered.

"Me too," Helios said.

"No," Optimus rejected. "I would not endanger anyone else under this extreme, especially you, Aria."

* * *

With that being said, Optimus came to the battlefield. The Omega Key was embedded on the sand.

"Claim your prize,…if you can," Megatron approached with his new hand clenched.

"By the AllSpark, Megatron!" Optimus gasped in horror, "What have you done?!"

"This? I find it affords me certain advantages…such as the Forge of Solus Prime!" Megatron then took out his purple blade and presented it to the Prime, "My first creation, fashioned from the Blood of Unicron! I call it the Dark Star Saber! Slayer of Primes, if you will!"

Without warning, Megatron charged to Optimus with the Dark Star Saber on hands. Optimus didn't need to be told twice, he unsheathed Star Saber and charged forward as well. They exchanged purple and blue sabers, and the whole desert was lighted up by swirls of bright purple and blue lights. They deflected each other's attacks and delivered their own. Then,

"At last, you and me! We take our rightful places. As GODS with the powers of the cosmos!" Megatron proclaimed.

Megatron used his left hand to grab Optimus' neck and pinned him against wall.

"I am nothing more than soldiers! And you are nothing more than a prisoner of your own twisted illusions!" Optimus replied back.

Optimus kicked Megatron away from him. As Megatron stood back up, the mighty sword fight continued. They soon exchanged blows with the swords, and the Dark Lord scratched Optimus' arm with it.

"My Dark Star Saber has tasted one spark tonight! But it still thirsts for the spark of a Prime!" Megatron sneered.

At the final strike, Megatron shattered the blade of Star Saber to pieces. Optimus couldn't believe his eyes, his ultimate weapon, was destroyed in a blink of eye. The shattered remains dropped to sand, and clustered away as dust. Shocked, Optimus fell to his knees, with Dark Star Saber over his head.

* * *

"Oh no...!" Aria could feel the close danger to Optimus.

"This isn't good...!" Helios claimed, as he could feel it as well.

"What? Your alarm system went off?" Bulkhead asked to both Whites.

"What happened to Optimus? Is he fine?" Ratchet asked in worry.

"He won't if we don't provide back up soon!" Aria stated as she leapt off the platform and transformed to Autobot form. "Ratch, open the GroundBridge!"

"You heard Optimus! He didn't want any interference!" Ratchet protested.

"Besides, didn't you hear of what I said? Megatron possesses an evil and deadly weapon. It already claimed Smokescreen...!" Arcee added.

"And you want to add our boss to the list?!" Aria argued.

"If you're talking about weapon..." Helios also transformed to his bot mode, and Heart of Prima floated beside him. "We have the means for it. Hurry, there's no time to waste!"

* * *

"And so it ends! Just as I envisioned!" Megatron said, as he raised his sword to slash Optimus' head.

But his action was stopped as he heard a GroundBridge opened. In a matter of second, Helios rocketed forward with his jet and slammed Megatron away from Optimus.

"Father!" Aria also came by, and she immediately rushed to her father. Then, she stared at the broken Star Saber in horror, "Oh no..."

"Aria! I told you to stay behind!" Optimus yelled.

"Sorry, but I can't..." Aria trailed.

They heard a clash, Helios was being attacked by Megatron. The vermillion boy defended himself using force field, and took few steps back. Then, both Aria and Helios saw Megatron's new arm.

"I didn't know you would go this low..." Helios muttered in disgust.

"You...how dare of you to do that?!" Aria barked aloud.

"That's right, you are the protectors of Primes," Megatron said as he raised the red arm, "I suppose, you are not liking my new appearance?"

"Indeed, and doing such disgrace thing to one of them is capital offense for us!" Aria screeched.

Both of the Whites deployed their cannons and sent their fires to Megatron. Megatron merely held up his arm higher, and the white blasts just bounced off the Prime arm, and deflected back to the shooters.

"WHOA!" Helios took quick action by casting force field. "It can't be...!"

"Our blast won't be able to reach him..." Aria gasped, "As long as he has that thing..."

"Indeed, Aria and Helios. Your mighty blood and firepower are supposed to protect the Prime, not against him!" Megatron sneered, "As long as I have this, the power of Prime, you would not lay your sickening White Energon to my body!"

"What power of Prime? You merely used it as shield!" Aria stated.

"Both of you are the rarest White Cybertronians, so I would make special exception. Step away, and I will spare your lives!" the Dark Lord urged.

"Out of question, Megatron!" Helios stated firmly.

"You really think you can shake us?!" Aria stepped forward, and both of Whites stood protectively in front of Optimus.

"Very well..." Megatron charged forward, with the Dark Star Saber ready to slay anything in its way.

"Aria, Helios, fall back!" Optimus ordered.

But the younglings weren't to back down, they charged forward and faced the Dark Lord head on. Aria clicked open her chest plate and Prima's jewel flew out. They decided to make use of the weapons. As Megatron delivered a purple saber to them, Aria and Helios quickly materialized out the weapons of their choices. Helios was holding the vermillion battle axe, Aria with twin blades. Aria swung her twin blades, delivered a white wave to deflect away the purple wave.

"You took Falcon Axe?" Aria muttered to Helios, "As for me, I prefer this White Gemini Saber."

"What in the Pit are those...?" Megatron asked warily.

"The things that your Dark Star Saber obviously won't like," Aria smirked.

"And the only things your cheater arm won't able to resist," Helios added.

"I see, the weapons that were forged out of White Energon, courtesy of the Saint..." Megatron muttered. "Alright then..."

Aria and Helios decided to gang up Megatron. Helios fired up his Falcon Axe's rocket booster and delivered his most powerful strike. Megatron defended himself using Dark Star Saber. Aria took the chance to strike Megatron from behind. But Megatron tossed Helios aside and deflected away Aria's attack.

"Being an incarnation of a Holy Saint, you surely pack a number of power, Aria," Megatron smirked as his blade was locked with Aria's blade.

"Oh, sure," Aria said, she splitter the twin blade into two separate sword, then attacked Megatron with one. But, Megatron was too powerful, and sent the girl flying.

Once again, Aria and Helios were trying to double-team Megatron. The Dark Lord, did a 360 degrees swing with his Dark Star Saber, sent both Whites flying with purplish scratches on their chests. Their weapons were split in half as the result. Aria and Helios tumbled down to the sand, and screamed in agony as the Dark Energon allergic reaction took place.

"Sadly, your bloodline was not meant for a war, _back liner_," Megatron smirked, he then decided to go for Aria first.

"But our sparks are, Megatron..." Aria whispered weakly, and glared menacingly to Megatron, "Ordinary back liner won't dare enough to put their life in front line..."

"Megatron! STAY AWAY FROM HER!" Optimus roared.

"Or what? You want to add one more deceased daughter to your growing list? I can help with that," Megatron threatened by inched his Dark Star Saber closer to Aria's neck, "At least, it ends, as what I envisioned! Optimus, with your last daughter's head beside my trophy...!"

"Oh, you mean this?!"

Megatron turned around to see Smokescreen, alive and well, holding the Omega Key.

"Finders keepers!" Smokescreen smirked.

As Megatron was distracted, Optimus took the opportunity to strike at Megatron and kicked him as far as possible from his daughter. He then used the remain of Star Saber to strike Megatron's face. Smokescreen also immediately joined in the fight. Meanwhile, Helios was able to stand up and staggering to tend the knocked out Aria.

"SMOKESCREEN, FALL BACK!" Optimus ordered.

Megatron managed to free himself and sent a purple wave to Smokescreen, which he dodged away. Optimus then pinned Megatron with all his might. But Megatron kicked the Prime away, and sent a purple wave to him. Thankfully, Smokescreen came in time to save Optimus. He touched Optimus' body, and the purple wave just warped through their body.

"RATCHET! GROUNDBRIDGE!" Optimus barked into the commlink.

"NO!" Megatron roared.

"Missed us!" Smokescreen smirked.

The portal soon opened, and the Autobots retreated. Smokescreen helped Helios to walk when Optimus picked up his daughter, they all rushed to the portal. Megatron threw a purple saber, but the portal closed in time.

"Run, Optimus. Run! Those trinkets from Iacon will not save you! Not while I possess the power to keep myself out the incarnations of the Saint and TEAR THIS WORLD APART!" Megatron vowed.

* * *

Optimus walked back to the base with Aria and broken Star Saber in tow. The girl was clutching her scratched chest and whimpered in pain.

"You should really stay away from Dark Energon, Aria. Where is Helios...?" Ratchet asked.

Optimus merely walked away to put Aria on medical slab. Behind him were Smokescreen and Helios.

"Smokescreen!" Bulkhead exclaimed in surprise.

"And Omega Key number 1," Smokescreen added as he held up the key.

"But…how?" Arcee demanded, "I saw you...!"

"I, er…decided to borrow the phase shifter," Smokescreen replied sheepishly and showed the said device on his right hand.

"Again?!" Ratchet exclaimed after examining Optimus' wound.

"Good thing too. The wave from the blast hit me like a wrecking ball. The impact must have activated the shifter. I don't know how long I must have been unconscious. But when I came outside..." Smokescreen trailed off, "But Optimus was pissed at Megatron. And I mean pissed. I waited for the right moment to make my move. As I saw Aria was about to be scrapped, I knew it was the time."

"You're learning," Arcee complimented.

"So can I keep it?" Smokescreen asked, "It really is working out for me."

"Fine, fine!" Ratchet relented.

"YES! My signature weapon!" Smokescreen cried in joy, "I mean, now not only me who has the super weapons! There are three...err..."

Smokescreen referred to Falcon Axe and White Gemini Saber held by Helios. But both of the weapons were broken thanks to Megatron's attack. Then, they all noticed the broken Star Saber on the floor.

"You got yours. Optimus, Aria and Helios lost theirs..." Bulkhead commented sadly.

"Father lost his signature weapon, but we didn't," Aria said with weak voice.

"But, those two are scrapped..." Bulkhead said.

"These weapons were forged from White Energon," Helios said, as he held up the axe and twin blades, "Which means, we can repair them with our White Energon. But we'll do it when our systems are cleaned up from Dark Energon..."

"Neat huh? Too bad the same couldn't be done for this one..." Smokescreen stared sadly at the Star Saber.

"The balance of power shifted again," Arcee said.

"While he may be wielded the power of the Ancients for only one day, Optimus does not require it to be the mightiest of the warriors," Ratchet stated.

Optimus wasn't bothered the slightest by the demise of Star Saber. As he was back on decoding Iacon database.

* * *

As the night went even late, Aria and Helios both recovered from Dark Energon allergic. So they decided to repair their broken weapons. All the Autobots witnessed the scene. Helios scratched open his wrist, dropped several drips White Energon to Heart of Solus Prime, then the jewel converted it to repair the broken Falcon Axe. Voila, the axe was back in perfect shape.

"Wow!" Bulkhead stared in awe.

"Instant repair!" Smokescreen commented.

"Solus Prime shared us her creation ability through the Heart," Aria said, "I have to say, we might rely on it much often from now on."

"Then, can you create anything from scratch? Like the Forge?" Arcee asked.

"Yeah, but the creation ability is with price. It requires White Energon as fuel and base material," Helios explained as he went to fix White Gemini Saber next, "We're fortunate enough that the axe and twin blades suffered mild damages."

"Can you fix Star Saber then?" Smokescreen asked.

"I hope, but repairing it requires a level of expertise none of us possess right now..." Aria sighed heavily.

"Wait, wait! Expertise?! Didn't you just dropped your White Energon and the jewel would do the job?" Bulkhead asked.

"These weapons were made of White Energon, so the Heart could do the job for us. The Heart could help us with material outside White Energon, but it depends on our own skill," Aria explained.

"If we could create something by offering our White Energon, I wouldn't go all night creating my GroundBridge," Helios said. "Even if we're able to repair the Star Saber, the damage is too severe. Our bodies doesn't hold enough supply to repair it within short time..."

"But well, the mighty weapons inherited from the Holy Saint were shattered easily..." Aria sighed, "Guess we're really not meant to stand in the front line..."

"Don't listen to what that shark teeth demon said," Helios said. "Back liner, defender, front liner, we're born warriors."

"Right," Aria smiled, "The best defense is offense."

* * *

For your viewing pleasure, the two weapons designed by me were on the cover image. Review please :3


	34. The Path to Serve and Lead

_"I suppose leadership at one time meant muscle, but today it means getting along with people"_

_Mahatma Gandhi_

* * *

Team Prime was watching Optimus decoding the Iacon database. With the race against Decepticons to get the rest of Omega Keys, Optimus didn't spare any single second. The rest of the Autobots also stood dutifully, ready to be deployed at any time. Meanwhile, Aria and Helios were busy repairing something after their weapons. Or rather, trying to repair.

"Hold it up a little bit longer," Helios instructed.

"This way?" Aria asked.

Even if they were aware they didn't possess the enough skill, they tried to repair Star Saber anyway. Aria was transferring her White Energon to Heart of Solus Prime. Helios coated his hands with the converted energy, and tried to make it worked. Both of the kids were in their human mode, to examine the big sword better. But all of the sudden, Helios' hand touched the wrong part...

_KABOOM_

All the Autobots were startled by the loud sound and bright light. Both of the Whites were thrown by the energy surge. Helios crashed to the wall, Aria crashed to the pile of metal boxes. The falling metal boxes eventually buried her underneath.

"Ouch...!" Helios winced in pain as his hand was smoking.

"Are both of you alright?" Arcee asked in worry, "Oh my, Aria!"

"By the AllSpark!" Ratchet gasped out.

Even Optimus was stopped from doing his job. He watched as Ratchet removed the metal boxes and Arcee helped the ponytail gathering herself up.

"You okay?" Arcee asked worriedly.

"Yeah..." Aria rubbed her head, "Ugh...I'm seeing stars..."

For Optimus, even the smallest accident could make him getting spark attack. He knelt beside his daughter and had very worried look.

"Only a mild concussion," Ratchet said after scanning the girl.

"What was that?!" Smokescreen asked.

"My bad," Helios apologized as he walked forward and examined Star Saber once again, "I busted it up."

"Repairing Star Saber with this level of skill and equipment is like fixing Ratchet's attitude. Nearly impossible," Aria remarked sarcastically.

"Excuse me?!" Ratchet snarled.

"Kidding, Ratch," Aria giggled a little, then sighed heavily as she stared to her father, "Father, sorry for the fuss..."

"Once I get the hang of it, I can make it works...somehow..." Helios said as he studied the Star Saber more. Aria soon joined him and both of them discussed something.

"Aria, Helios," Optimus called out, "I really appreciate of your efforts in repairing Star Saber. However, it is never be my intention focusing on something already lost. The sword is one thing. Remember, the needs of many outweigh the needs of few. Do not waste your energy to bring back the shattered sword."

"Father, seriously? Since when you became this pessimist?" Aria said, "We won't give up this easily. Never. You just wait and see."

"She's right. Really itches me if there's something I cannot fix, yet. And it won't stop until I succeed," Helios added.

"Very well, but remember, we have to stay alert. Do not push yourself, because there is no telling when you will go into battlefield," Optimus relented.

"Sure thing, boss," Aria winked.

Optimus sighed at the stubbornness of his guardians. Well, he never saw Aria and Helios as his personal guardians. Aria was his beloved daughter, and Helios was his comrade. But minor thing aside, both of them were proven to be stubborn. Relented, Optimus went back decoding Iacon database.

"Just don't make that kind of light work again, okay?" Bulkhead advised.

"No worry, we'll be careful not to make another energy surge!" Aria reassured.

_They're really getting along together_ Bumblebee commented.

"I hear you," Bulkhead commented.

"Hmmm..." Arcee mumbled, something just bothered her mind.

* * *

The night went even late, Optimus hadn't managed to bring out the next coordinates of Omega Key. Ratchet suggested all of them getting rest to recover their energy.

"Doc, you can't be serious," Bulkhead said.

"Yeah, we have to be loaded for battle, and now you tell us to go berth?" Smokescreen added.

"You cannot load yourself if you're low on energy. Go for some rest, we will alert you if the second coordinate is decoded," Ratchet urged.

"I will remain here!" Smokescreen volunteered, "I'm still full of energy, I'm ready to roll at any time."

"Aria, Helios, you too..." Ratchet turned to the kids.

Only to find out that both of Aria and Helios had fallen asleep, leaning against Star Saber's handle. Arcee quietly approached the sleeping Whites, but then Helios stirred and opened his eyes.

"Sorry, did I wake you?" Arcee asked quietly, not wanting to wake the ponytail.

"No...it's okay..." Helios sleepily rubbed his eyes and sat up.

"You two already spent too much energy," Ratchet said, "You should get some rest already."

"I'm fine...I just need some nap..." Helios stood back up and continued working on Star Saber. He quietly and silently moved away Aria's body from the blade area, "But you might want to tuck her in. She needs rest more than I do."

Optimus once again stopped decoding, walked closer, and gently wrapped his palms around his daughter. He proceeded to lift her as gentle and quiet as possible. The Prime stopped in mid track when Aria stirred a bit, but remained in her dream. After that, Optimus walked out of the command center to carry Aria back to her quarter.

"She's rather heavy sleeper," Bulkhead commented.

"But she's cute, even cuter when sleeping," Smokescreen grinned, "You know, even if I cannot be a warrior like Optimus, it'll be equally great if I can, you know, be the Prime's daughter's man."

"Whoa, watch it, boy," Bulkhead cut in.

_It's a suicidal attempt_ Bumblebee added.

"Indeed, Smokescreen. You have to know that Optimus won't let anybody claim his daughter," Arcee said, "I'm sure of it. If he ever finds out that Aria is scratched..."

"Megatron has to hand his 'The Scariest Bot Ever Existed' award to Optimus," Bulkhead piped in, "And I'm not joking. Jackie almost fell victim, once."

"Whoa, never expected that the great Optimus Prime is a doting parent..." Smokescreen commented sheepishly.

"I'm not surprised. He already lost his first daughter, and _almost_ lost the second one," Arcee reflected.

* * *

Eventually every bot except Optimus, Ratchet, and Helios went back to their rooms for recharge. Optimus was still decoding database, with Ratchet on standby. Helios was still working with Star Saber. And much to his surprise, Arcee came by.

"I thought you're resting," Helios commented without looking at the blue femme.

"I thought _you_ were resting," Arcee said as she knelt beside the sword.

"I will be fine," Helios replied, although his tired face said the otherwise, "I still couldn't configure how to repair this thing. I won't be able to sleep until I make something of it."

"Hard worker, huh? You're like Aria," the blue bike stated.

"I'm no her. She's far better than me in terms of determination," the Spanish boy argued, "But well, like I'm gonna lose to her."

"A rivalry still takes place, I see. I know Aria, she's one of the hard workers I've ever known. Which is why I'm kinda attracted to her," Arcee reflected, "But, I hardly know you."

"Pardon me?" Helios finally glanced to Arcee's eyes.

"If Aria's exerting herself, I already know why. But if it's you, I can hardly see the reason," Arcee argued, "As I can see you're working desperately to bring the Star Saber back, even if you said you possessed limited skill."

"Let me guess it, trust issue?" Helios asked.

"Not really. I know you're the incarnation of the Saint, who is supposed to be Prime's guardian. But, I imagined if I were in your...shoes, like the human said..." Arcee rolled her eyes as she used the human term, "That's not enough reason. I mean, I'm grateful that we have another reliable member, but...I really want to know why. You just met Optimus few moments ago, and the second later you acted like you were his lifetime service."

"Well, how should I say it...?" Helios thought aloud, "For starter, I've finally found something that I was good at. I assumed that you already knew my past story?"

"Yeah, most of," Arcee replied.

"I was never good at many things, which was why my family didn't like me at all. Before this, I dedicated my life for somebody else, and I was raised to think that way," Helios began, "But after all that happened, I started to wonder. What I've done for my own self? Nothing, there was just nothing. You wouldn't know how it felt, would you?"

"I would, I think. You see, we've been fighting a millennia old war back on Cybertron," Arcee reflected, "In my training days, we've been fed by the idea, that we were fighting for the future of Cybertron, for our race, for the universe. But nobody said that we had to fight for our own future life. I didn't realize that until I joined Optimus' team, and came to Earth station."

"That being said, I think you know why I became Optimus' lifetime guard even if I just met him yesterday," Helios summed up, "When I was led by Megatron, how should I say it...? I was like following him on foot when he flew on jet. Prime, on the other hand, was equally at high place. But, he was willing to get down, reach me, and show me how to walk on higher place as him. I finally found it, my reason. There's no way I can follow someone who's not at same track as me."

Arcee was rather baffled by the answer. "That's right...I haven't be able to realize it..." the blue bike sighed, "You have pretty good eyes, kiddo."

"Thank you," Helios chuckled a little bit, then he glanced at Optimus' back, "He showed me the way. And without realizing it, I was leading myself and serving him at the same time. He has the best quality. If it's for him, I'm willing to give all my life and follow him anywhere."

"Yeah..." Arcee also glanced at Optimus' back, "There are so many things that I learn from him as well. I can't think of any leader figure as good as him."

"With that being said, I cannot stop," Helios stared back at Star Saber, "This is finally my chance, to prove that I can do something useful for somebody else. Like what Cassandra made me promise, before she passed away. And this also the first time, that I can happily to announce that I'm willing to serve."

"You and me both..." Arcee commented, "We won't stop on serving him, our leader, and leading ourselves for better life. Cannot believe you can say something like that. You are like Smokescreen, right? Being locked inside a pod for quite a time..."

"Yeah. Because of that, I felt like I've been transported to some different dimension. 10 years gap is big, you know," Helios said, "But, before that 10 years gap, I've been in hard life. Just say it's some kind of personal experience. But well, if you ask for anymore reason, even if it's not for me, I will do it for her."

"Her? Aria?" Arcee asked.

"Yeah...she's my very first friend..." Helios smiled a little bit, "I have hard time trusting people, based on my life experience. But...I feel I can trust Aria...entirely. For one reason, she saved my heart."

"I can see that," Arcee replied, "That girl's something. No wonder if she's the daughter of Optimus."

"She already went more horrible past life than me. I've seen her sad face once," Helios sighed, "When I saw it, I was reminded of my sister's dying face. I certainly didn't want to see it again."

"You know what, this is my very first time ever being teamed up with a Con, albeit the ex one," Arcee commented, "But, it really hurt me if you can't trust us even a little bit."

"I will, but it takes time...," Helios stuttered at the last part, "This is my first time living in a community who accept me fully. So, I will need some time to adjust to this lifestyle."

"If you don't mind, I can help you with that," Arcee suggested, "Aria isn't the only one who cares about you...Adrian."

Helios widened his eyes as Arcee called him with his real name. He only allowed Aria to call him that, because he trusted the girl with his secret. But, for some reason, he didn't mind Arcee calling him that.

"Thank you...Arcee..." Helios stuttered a little bit at the last part. He knew it wouldn't be easy to change, but he wouldn't waste the chance.


	35. Hard Knocks

_"I can accept failure, everyone fails at something. But I can't accept not trying"_

_Michael Jordan_

* * *

The next day, Aria was trying to get used with her new White Gemini Saber. Meanwhile the team was watching as Optimus still decoded the Iacon database. Time was ticking, and there was a race they couldn't afford to lose.

"I'm gonna be a great warrior someday. Like Optimus," Smokescreen stated.

"Well, train harder and gain some wisdom along the way and I'm sure it'll happen," Bulkhead suggested.

"Oh, it will! It's my destiny!" Smokescreen boasted.

"How so?" Arcee inquired.

"Well, one minute I'm on security detail at Iacon. The next, I wake up on the other side of the galaxy to find myself under Optimus' command! I mean, what are the chances, right?! Things happen for a reason!" Smokescreen proclaimed.

"We get it, Smokescreen. You're special, we're lucky to have you," Arcee stated dryly.

"All I'm really saying is I've come a long way. This is one opportunity I don't plan on messing up," Smokescreen swore,

"Good resolution, perhaps I should take a cue," Helios stated.

"You should, junior!" Smokescreen claimed.

"For some reason, I regret saying that..." Helios sighed in defeat.

"Autobots, the next Iacon coordinates have been decoded," Optimus announced, "Ratchet! Ready the GroundBridge!"

"Last one to the Omega Key has to scrub the Energon Tanks for a week!" Smokescreen challenged.

"Didn't know we were keeping score," Arcee grumbled.

"Perhaps we should? It's kinda interesting," Aria suggested.

"Arcee, Aria, Bumblebee, prepare to roll out," Optimus instructed.

"Wait! What about me?!" Smokescreen protested, causing Bulkhead to clear his throat, "I mean, me, Bulkhead and...Helios!"

"The three of you will remain here in the event I am able to decode a subsequent entry before the others return," Optimus decided before resuming his work.

"Optimus is right. Considering the very fate of Cybertron is at stake, response time is critical," Ratchet piped in before activating the GroundBridge.

"Keep your engines idling, kid," Arcee suggested before turning to Bumblebee, "Come on, Aria, Bee. Destiny awaits."

"See ya Adrian," Aria waved to Helios.

"We call it a pit stop," Bulkhead said as he slapped Smokescreen on the back, "We'll get back in the race."

* * *

"Seriously, that Smoke really gets to my nerve," Aria commented as they exited the portal, "I like high-spirited youngster, but he's too much for me."

"For you and me both. Over there," Arcee spotted.

There was a Cybertronian jar with Omega Key sticking out. It just sat in middle of nowhere.

"I have a bad feeling about this..." Aria muttered.

"Well, well, well. Just the Autobots I wanted to see," Knock Out smirked as he emerged from behind the boulder.

"I knew it!" Aria cried out.

"We'll handle the mad doctor. Bee, you grab the key," Arcee instructed Aria and Bumblebee as they prepared to fight.

"Got it coach," Aria said as she brought out her blasters.

"I've been wanting to thank you both for the memories," Knock Out sneered.

The three Autobots marched forward, and Knock Out pulled out his Resonance Blaster. He first swatted Arcee and Aria, and then Bumblebee. He pinned the yellow scout against a wall, and promptly knocked him with the sonic waves.

"Who knew that sound waves could be such knock out?!" Knock Out turned around to pin Arcee and Aria to the rock wall.

"That's it!" Aria managed to build force field around her and Arcee to shield themselves.

"Oh, old trick..." Knock Out remarked.

"And new trick!" Aria brought out her twin saber. She swung it and delivered a white wave to Knock Out. The red medic was tumbling down to the ground.

"Our chance!" Aria remarked, "Miss Arcee, are you alright...?"

"I'm fine...! Hold him when we secure the package! BEE! THE RELIC!" Arcee cried out.

Bumblebee also recovered a bit. Clutching his chest in pain, he staggered toward the jar, so did Arcee and Aria.

"Scrap," Knock Out then got an idea, "Hmmm, how low can it go?"

He pointed Resonance Blaster to the ground, and fired it multiple times. A huge wave of sonic blast roared through the area and knocked the Autobots aside. Dust and debris built up as the result. Arcee and Bumblebee were knocked out cold with the sonic blast, and buried under rocks.

"Sub-woofer? Or depth-charge?" Knock Out asked.

Knock Out took the chance to grab the relic, but then one white wave stopped him. The sport car whirled around to see that Aria was intact, thanks to the force field. The sea green femme held her twin saber and pointed it to Knock Out.

"Step away from the relic, or say goodbye to your head," Aria threatened.

"Ow, easy..." Knock Out held up his hands, "Say...what's the news of my former teammate, Helios?"

"He's fine," Aria replied shortly.

"Great, his departure was already too soon. I wish he could stay a little bit longer to hear some tales of the original Helios," Knock Out trailed off.

"The original Helios?" Aria perked up.

"The previous one was rather mysterious sparkling. Personally, I never bothered to learn about the newborns in our kind, but..." Knock Out stated, "Lord Megatron held that boy in high regard, not only because he's a White. The previous Helios, was a son of certain someone."

"Who?" Aria inquired, clearly curious.

"Unclear, only Lord Megatron knows. The only hint I have; this certain someone is very loyal and useful for Lord Megatron. Guard's down!" Knock Out exclaimed.

Knock Out took the chance to blast Aria once again. Aria lowered her guard thanks to the chatter, and her force field was weakened. It shattered easily, and the girl also passed out like the other two.

The three of the Autobots regained consciousness after some while. Arcee staggered to the jar, but found out that it was empty. Knock Out too, was long gone.

"Scrap!" Arcee cursed.

* * *

"It appears identical to the one taken from me by Optimus Prime," Megatron observed as he examined the key Knock Out had delivered to him upon his return, "Perhaps it is a decoy the Autobots allowed you to seize as a means of sabotage."

"Unlikely, my liege! They battled too desperately for it!" Knock Out protested, "Even the daughter of Optimus was more than ready to slice my head off..."

"Then pieces of a larger puzzle perhaps," Megatron said, before he observed Soundwave's work, "Excellent, Soundwave. With any luck, these coordinates will shed some light on the subject."

"Soundwave's on fire! And so am I!" Knock Out boasted.

"Keep your vanity in check, doctor," Megatron advised.

"Haven't I proven myself?!" Knock Out exclaimed in disbelief.

"Your scientific expertise remains of greater use to me analyzing our latest acquisition. I must know what this relic is and what it can do!" Megatron reasoned.

* * *

Arcee, Aria and Bumblebee got back at base and being examined by Ratchet. Bumblebee was inside the medical chamber, being repaired, when Arcee waited for her turn.

"I'm sorry, Optimus. Knock Out was there waiting for us," Arcee apologized, "Seems the 'Cons have improved their decoding skills!"

"Soundwave, to be exact," Helios muttered, "I knew that mute guy is good, but I'm still surprised..."

"If you want to blame someone, blame me," Aria said as she glanced to Optimus, "I let my guard down...by some chatters nonetheless..."

"Aria, blame or praise would not bring back the past incident," Optimus reassured as he knelt down to see his daughter better.

"And it seems that with two keys already separated, no one seems to possess the means to revive Cybertron," Ratchet stated.

"While our quest to revive our planet has reached a stalemate, securing the remaining keys is still the prudent course of action," Optimus proclaimed.

"Man, it must have been crazy with Knock Out going all sonic!" Smokescreen remarked, "Man, I wish I was there! I would've...!"

"Would've what?!" Arcee cut in bitterly, "Recovered the key like you did the first one?!"

"Maybe. Who knows?" Smokescreen shrugged, "I just want us to be firing out all cylinders! You know, with the Star Saber gone! And I have a pretty good track record so far!"

That made Arcee grunted in annoyance. She walked away with her still injured body, clearly pissed off. And Aria, didn't take that well, and approached Smokescreen.

"Now, look what you've done!" Aria snarled to the new recruit, "You even dare to say something funny to my mentor, you speak to me!"

"Look, kid. Arcee and Bumblebee are no slouches. And Optimus managed just fine for eons without that sword! Of course, you wouldn't know that. You've been locked in stasis the entire time we were fighting this war," Bulkhead pointed out.

"Exactly! And I'm ready to make up for lost time!" Smokescreen proclaimed.

"When Optimus says you're ready! You've gotta be in this for the long haul!" Bulkhead told Smokescreen, "Slow and steady wins the race."

"Listen, Smokescreen," Helios stepped forward, "You and me were same in some part. I too, was locked inside a capsule for quite a period. You and me both want to make up for the lost time. But because of those lost time as well, we should know better than to take it easily."

"I'm not taking it easily. I know this is war," Smokescreen answered.

"Oh, I hope you know, Smoke," Aria added, "I hope you really do."

* * *

Meanwhile, Starscream was in his own moment as well. He tried to process the Red Energon he got a while ago. And much to his disappointment, it was incredibly slow.

"Hurry up already!" Starscream snarled impatiently, "How is it possible that speed-enhancing Energon takes longer to process than regular Energon?!"

The machine bleeped, indicating that the refining process was finished. But the tube was barely filled to half.

"An entire chunk of Red Energon and this is all I get?!" Starscream announced in disbelief, "There's enough here for one dose! Maybe two!"

Then his monitor picked up Decepticon activity.

"Decepticon movement," Starscream observed before picking up the tube of refined Red Energon, "While speed is hardly a suitable replacement for the might of the Apex Armor, it should provide me with enough of an edge to obtain a more…formidable relic…."

* * *

"I wished you went instead of me, Helios," Aria muttered sadly, "You're better with force field than me."

"Now, why all of the sudden?" Helios stated, "Even if I was the one, there was no guarantee that things would take the opposite turn."

"Well, that Knock Out played a cheap trick. Who knows that he was good at chatter? Or, do you know?" Aria asked.

"Gotta admit, he's pretty fun chatting buddy," Helios chuckled a little bit, "Although, I barely interacted with him back in Nemesis."

"Speaking of, he told me something rather...unique. He said something the previous Helios' life," Aria said, "Well, he said that the previous Helios was a sparkling of someone...loyal or some kind..."

Helios just rolled his eyes, "Not really my interest. Helios, the real one, was already long dead. I may take my name from him, but he and I are completely different beings. I has nothing to do with his life story."

"The next coordinates are ready!" Optimus announced as he turned away from the monitors.

"There remains one set left to decode," Ratchet added as he activated the GroundBridge.

"On it, boss!" Bulkhead immediately answered.

"I'm gonna bring back that key!" Smokescreen promised as he stepped forward, practicing his punches.

"It's my turn, I guess," Helios said as he walked to the GroundBridge portal.

"First mission with Team Prime!" Aria cheered. "Go for it, Adrian!"

"Hey, Aria, no support for me?!" Smokescreen added, "The destined one is about to make another legend. I'm gonna coming back with Omega Key and a bucket of red roses, princess. That's how you impress a woman in this planet, right?"

"Uh, that's nice, why all of the sudden...?" Aria raised her eyebrow in confusion.

Arcee merely rolled her eyes at the situation. For her experience, too much confidence could result in bad way.

"Uh, Bulk? Forgetting something?" Arcee held up a scanner. When Bulkhead came to pick it, she pulled him closer and whispered to him, "Make sure you keep an eye on 'Destiny's Child', OK?"

"Compared to watching Miko, piece of cake," Bulkhead shrugged, "Besides, I got another hotshot on my arsenal. Helios, ready for your premiere mission with us?"

"Locked and loaded," Helios smirked to the green bot.

* * *

The three of them then arrived at some kind of jungle. It was evening at that place. Bulkhead kept his eyes for anything suspicious.

"Stay close, stay focused," Bulkhead told Smokescreen.

"Gotcha!" Smokescreen said half-hearted.

"I mean it!" Bulkhead warned.

"Me too!" Smokescreen replied.

"I'll scan the entire area from the air," Helios said as he deployed his jetpack.

"Oh, good! Wish I can fly as well..." Smokescreen trailed, then he heard something, "What's that?"

There was a loud crash, Helios even stopped his attempt to fly as they whirled around. It was Dreadwing standing on the upper rocky cliff.

"One of the last sounds you will ever hear!" Dreadwing smirked.

"Dreadwing," Bulkhead snarled.

The blue Seeker transformed to jet, and rocketed to their direction.

"Scrap!"

Bulkhead, Helios and Smokescreen jumped to opposite direction to avoid Dreadwing's slam. Dreadwing flew past them and soared high. Helios knew better than to let Dreadwing hanging around. So, the vermillion boy flew and pursued Dreadwing in the air.

Bulkhead recovered, but then he heard familiar beeping. He looked up, and gasped to see Dreadwing's proximity bomb on one tree. And to make things even worse, there wasn't just one bomb. The entire area was covered with explosives, ready to go off.

"We've gotta get out of here! NOW!" Bulkhead cried as he dragged Smokescreen away.

The entire area exploded into big fireballs as two Autobots ran to avoid it. Bulkhead and Smokescreen jumped into lower cliff area, and the big area of rainforest exploded loudly.

Meanwhile, Dreadwing and Helios were in middle of dogfight on air. Dreadwing was shooting and Helios flew to dodge it.

"Helping the Autobot cause is capital offense, Helios!" Dreadwing roared, "I will take you to Lord Megatron for due punishment!"

"Thanks for stating the obvious, Dreadwing!" Helios remarked. He whirled around, deployed his cannon and fired back to the blue jet. Dreadwing retreated to the ground, and landed in front of the Autobots who escaped his bombs. Helios unsheathed his blade, and attacked Dreadwing. Dreadwing dodged it by leaping away.

"Smoke, I'll help the boy handling Dreadwing! Go get the relic!" Bulkhead instructed as he tossed the scanner to him.

"You've got it," Smokescreen nodded as he ran off.

Dreadwing blocked Helios' blade, then noticed Smokescreen escaping. He tossed Helios aside, and was about to chase Smokescreen, until Bulkhead and Helios approached him.

"You love watching your dirty work from a distance, don't you? Too bad you don't have the ball bearings to fight up close and personal!" Bulkhead snarled.

"In this particular case, I will be more than happy to make an exception!" Dreadwing proclaimed.

Bulkhead deployed his wrecking ball, and charged toward the launching Dreadwing. Helios took out his Falcon Axe and tried to strike Dreadwing from above. Dreadwing tossed aside Bulkhead's wrecking ball and Helios' axe, and in very same second planted his bomb on Bulkhead's back. Dreadwing took few steps back and dodged more attack from Bulkhead. He struck the green Wrecker with both his fists. Bulkhead pinned the blue Con to the tree, but Dreadwing managed to free himself and kicked Bulkhead.

As Bulkhead took steps back, Helios took his turn. He raised his axe and tried to slash Dreadwing. Dreadwing took out his own sword and blocked Helios' axe. But the vermillion boy wasn't the kind to relent that easily. He fired up the axe's rocket booster, and shattered Dreadwing's sword with boosted strike.

"You are good, I have to admit," Dreadwing said, "You should have stayed in our warship, under Lord Megatron."

"I've abandoned that choice," Helios proclaimed as he swirled Falcon Axe around.

"Even if your Cybertronian side was from our kind?"

"It's not a reason," Helios stated.

"Oh, but you happened not to know your exact origin, did you? I've heard it from Lord Megatron. Cannot believe that you are related to certain someone's son, but, totally different," Dreadwing explained.

"Should I know?," Helios replied dryly.

"Oh you should. And I can help you to find the answer...in the afterlife," Dreadwing then punched away the boy.

Bulkhead interfered just in time before Dreadwing could attack Helios again. The green bot punched Dreadwing's face as hard as he could with his wrecking ball. Dreadwing was tossed few feet away, crashing to big rocks.

"An admirable effort. But you have obviously forgotten our last encounter ended!" Dreadwing smirked as he held up his remote and pressed the button to activate the bomb.

"No I didn't!" Bulkhead snarled.

Dreadwing heard the beep, but much to his horror the beep came from his back. Turned out, Bulkhead already moved the bomb from his back to Dreadwing's back. Dreadwing reached the bomb and tossed it. The bomb exploded powerful enough to knock Dreadwing out cold.

"I really should learn that trick," Helios commented.

"Smoke, I'm on my way!" Bulkhead commed.

* * *

Smokescreen already reached the exact location, and began to dig the rocks. Finally, he stumbled upon Cybertronian jar. He opened it, and the Omega Key popped out. He held the key with a wide grin on his face.

"Destiny!" Smokescreen proclaimed once again.

A second later, something struck him real hard from behind. Smokescreen dropped unconscious. And then as he came to, Bulkhead and Helios were there.

"Smokescreen! Wake up!" Bulkhead called worriedly.

"What happened?" Smokescreen immediately asked.

"That's what we want to know," Helios added.

Bulkhead helped Smokescreen up, then Smokescreen gasped out.

"The Omega Key!" Smokescreen cried as he remembered it. But as he looked around, the key was gone, "I had it! Until…something hit me from behind!"

"Dreadwing must have had backup," Bulkhead growled.

"I've scanned the entire area, but I only spotted him," Helios shrugged, "I didn't see anybody else."

"Whatever the case, that relic's long gone! Ratchet, we need a bridge!" Bulkhead commed back to base.

"I…I told Optimus and Aria I would bring back the key..." Smokescreen blamed himself.

"Listen, kid. Alpha Trion said we needed all four keys to restore Cybertron, remember?" Bulkhead reminded him as he guided the defeated Smokescreen towards the open GroundBridge portal and into the base, "We just need to hang on to the one we have and to find a way to get the remaining ones back from Megatron. And about Aria, you can impress her another time."

Unbeknownst to them, someone was eavesdropping. It was Starscream, with the Omega Key on his hand.

"The promise of a new Cybertron…in the palm in my hand! When I obtain all four…," Starscream trailed off as he sped away. He already made a very good plan for that.

* * *

"Smokescreen was sucker punched. Could have happened to any of us," Bulkhead said to the others.

"But it didn't! Because I was the one who dropped his guard! I was the one who blew it! Some great warrior I'm turning out to be..." Smokescreen grumbled.

"Smokescreen, cut it out already!" Aria snapped, "This is how an Elite Guard graduate behaves?! I can't believe it!"

"You weren't there! So you didn't know anything! I tried to prevent failure, but it...still happened!" Smokescreen protested.

"And WHAT do you know about 'failure'? I tell you, failures happen! It's not the end of the world, for goodness sake!" Aria replied.

"Aria, I...I don't understand..." Smokescreen stuttered.

"You still don't get it, do you?!" Arcee also added, "A couple of victories aren't going to make you a legend! And not every mission results in success! Not for me, not for Bee, not even for Optimus! We've gained relics and we've lost some! We've also lost friends! We've even lost a world! But this is one time we get a do-over! We have a chance to bring back Cybertron and everyone in this room needs to be in sync! This isn't about you or your destiny!"

"Now, do you get it?!" Aria finished.

"Arcee, Aria, you've made your point," Optimus tried to lower the tension.

"Optimus, he needs to hear this," Arcee said firmly, "You might actually become a great warrior one day! And I sincerely hope that you do! But greatness begins and ends with putting the team first! Not your personal scorecard!"

"There's nothing I wouldn't do for you guys!" Smokescreen protested.

"Then stop trying to be a hero and start being an Autobot!" Aria sneered. "As I said, failures happen! You can prevent failures to happen, but not without tasting it first. And that's what build our experiences for the whole time."

"...Maybe I'm just not good enough..." Smokescreen turned away, transformed, and drove off the base.

"Next time Optimus advises you to stop, you should listen," Ratchet suggested.

"He needed that," Aria stated.

"I'll bring him back," Bulkhead offered.

"Smokescreen is young, Bulkhead," Optimus said as he stepped forward, "He has much to learn."

"I'm younger than him," Aria said, "So is Helios."

"Age could not be compared to personal experience, my dear. You and Helios had been through things that shaped you to this day," Optimus stated. "I wish that Smokescreen could be aware of that too. But right now, he needs to clear his thoughts. And I need to finish decoding the final Iacon entry."

* * *

"You never even SPIED THE RELIC?!" Megatron roared at Dreadwing in disbelief.

"By the time I reached the location, it was gone," Dreadwing reported sadly, "As were the Autobots."

"It would serve as well not to only decode the final Iacon entry before Optimus Prime does. But to recapture the relics currently held by the Autobots!" Megatron proclaimed before turning to his surveillance chief, "Soundwave! Despite your primary task, I trust that you are making progress pinpointing the location of their base. Good. Given the recent accumulation of evidence, we possess a clear idea of where their human colleagues reside! And Laserbeak should soon determine whether the Autobots dwell in proximity."

* * *

"The final entry has been decoded!" Optimus announced.

"Has it?" Ratchet asked.

They were confused when there was no coordinates. Instead, there was some kind of image.

"Perhaps it's a layer of secondary encryption," Optimus thought aloud, as the image started to form something.

* * *

Soundwave too, stumbled upon the same entry.

"The coordinates are forming an image," Megatron observed before asking himself, "Why would the final Iacon entry be different from the others?"

* * *

"Maybe it's a picture of the relic," Bulkhead guessed with a small shrug.

"Of what possible use could that be to us without knowing its location?" Ratchet retorted with a scoff.

"I trust that Alpha Trion had his reasons," Optimus rumbled.

Then as the image formed, they all widened their eyes in disbelief. The image was one of the Autobots they knew.

"It can't be..." Aria gaped.

"Smokescreen?!" Bulkhead gaped in disbelief.

* * *

Even Megatron hardly believed of what he saw.

"Prime's latest recruit is the final relic from Iacon?!" Megatron gasped in shock.

* * *

"Is this that hot shot's idea of a joke?!" Arcee asked sarcastically.

_Don't think so_ Bumblebee protested.

"Maybe he knows where the key is," Bulkhead shrugged.

"And never bother to mention it?" Arcee retorted.

"Hold on! Alpha Trion never mentioned the Omega Key to anybody before this!" Aria objected, "He only revealed it to my father!"

"A more likely possibility is that Smokescreen himself is somehow the key without knowing it," Ratchet suggested.

"Whatever the case, he could be in grave danger," Optimus reached for his comm, "Smokescreen, return to base immediately."

But there was no answer, "He may have deactivated his commlink," Ratchet said.

"The worst idea of all..." Aria muttered.

"Locate his position and prepare the GroundBridge," Optimus immediately instructed.

* * *

But, Laserbeak already located Smokescreen speeding on the desert. Soundwave reported his finding to Megatron.

"It seems our side project is already paying off!" Megatron cheered in satisfaction.

Smokescreen saw Laserbeak coming. The bird bot then opened fire to him, causing Smokescreen to brake harshly and transformed.

"You've picked the wrong day to mess with me, 'Con!" Smokescreen snarled.

Smokescreen deployed his cannon and aimed it to the bird. But he didn't get a chance to shoot, as a sonic wave came from his side, and knocked him. Before his vision went blank, he saw vividly the figure of Soundwave.

The Autobots arrived at the location via GroundBridge. Only to see Soundwave was dragging the unconscious Smokescreen to his own portal.

"Smokescreen!" Optimus gasped in horror.

They charged as fast as they could, but it was too late. The portal closed, and the Decepticons already claimed Smokescreen, with the Omega Key.

"No!" Optimus gasped.

* * *

The Autobots returned to the base empty-handed. The worst case, they let their teammate to be captured.

"It was my fault..." Aria muttered sadly, "If only I didn't strike his nerve like that, he wouldn't leave the base, and all of this wouldn't happen..."

"It's not entirely your fault, Aria. I have the most part of the blame," Arcee added.

"Not anybody's fault. We all had no idea that Smoke is the relic," Bulkhead reassured the females.

"Until Optimus managed to bring out the last entry, that was," Ratchet added.

"Megatron must've stumbled upon the same image as well..." Helios spoke up.

"The four Omega Keys are still separated and scattered around," Ratchet said, "Our best hope is Megatron would not find out about them, or it would cause big catastrophe."

Helios was about to say something, then his eyes went blank. He started to have vision.

He saw a city, being on fire. And he saw Decepticon drones all over, they were opening fire to something distant. And then, he saw someone's back. Whoever it was, the figure was leaning over monitors and keyboards. The shadowy figure then slowly turned his face around.

But before the face could be seen, Helios' mind was snapped back to reality.

"Adrian, something's wrong?" Aria asked.

"...No..." Helios replied, unsure. Without realizing it, his spark started to beat faster, "_What was that...?"_

* * *

Review please :3


	36. Inside Job

_"I do not believe in a fate that falls on men however they act, but I do believe in a fate that falls on them unless they act"_

_Buddha_

* * *

"Smokescreen must have been taken aboard the Decepticon warship. Tracing his signal through its shielding will be impossible," Ratchet told the rest of the team.

"Continue monitoring all frequencies, Ratchet. Far more than Smokescreen's fate may be at stake," Optimus pointed out.

"I don't get it. How can Smoke be an Omega Key?" Bulkhead asked.

"Perhaps he isn't the key. But its container," Ratchet reasoned.

"Wait...the last time I coaxed out Alpha Trion's heart from him, I saw nothing inside his chest..." Aria muttered.

"You really think Alpha Trion would place such important thing in outer hull?" Helios reasoned, "He must've hid it rather deeper."

"The other Iacon relics were sent to Earth in pods," Arcee reminded everyone, "Why not this one?"

"When the Decepticons stormed Iacon, it may have been too late for Alpha Trion to launch the final Omega Key into space. At least by standard means," Optimus reasoned.

"So Smokescreen assumed everything went black because he was hit by Decepticons," Arcee summed up.

"But Alpha Trion's the one who actually turned off the kid's lights," Bulkhead corrected.

"It stands to reason that my mentor did not want Smokescreen to know what he was carrying in the event of capture," Optimus guessed.

"And with a mobile relic, Alpha Trion couldn't supply fixed coordinates," Arcee added.

"So the big slipped us a clue instead. Smoke's mug shot," Bulkhead finished.

"The Decepticons got to Smokescreen first," Ratchet reminded everyone, "I fear they have decoded the same clue."

"Do I have to mention that name again?" Helios asked as he peered to Aria.

"No need, Adrian. Perhaps I'll move Soundwave's name into the top of my list," Aria sighed, "That mute guy is...dangerous. It'll be the best if we just remove his head first before Megatron or Starscream..."

* * *

"Yet another one of these identical relics?!" Megatron exclaimed in disbelief, "Remove it swiftly!"

"With pleasure," Knock Out deployed his circular saw, "I so resent a finish flashier than my own!"

Smokescreen squirmed even harder as Knock Out inched his saw closer to his body. But then, as the saw was merely an inch from Smokescreen's chest, the saw stopped.

"Ha! Made you squirm!" Knock Out folded back his saw, and decided to test Phase Shifter instead, "Trippy… And intuitive. Proper grounding ensures that its user won't phase through the floor!"

"I said swiftly!" Megatron snapped impatiently.

Knock Out used the Phase Shifter to grab whatever inside Smokescreen's chest.

"GET YOUR STINKING HAND OUT OF MY GEARS!" Smokescreen roared.

"And…gotcha!" Knock Out cheered.

Knock Out pulled out the relic out of Smokescreen's body and presented it to Megatron. Megatron was very curious, why the recent relics were in same shape.

"Tell me the function of these relics," Megatron ordered.

"Doorstops, shavers, bling; beats me," Smokescreen shrugged.

"A pity this little gadget won't let me just slip into his brain pan and pluck out the info," Knock Out noted.

"Fortunately, we possess a device that can," Megatron stated with a smirk.

* * *

"Individually, each of these so-called Omega Keys is useless. Yet possessing a single one grants me tremendous negotiating power with either Autobots or Decepticons," Starscream sneered excitedly, "Still, imagine if I managed to acquire the other three. I could revive Cybertron and seize the throne as Starscream the First, Supreme Leader, Overlord and Emperor of Destruction!"

He cackled as he imagined himself being in charge of newborn Cybertron. But then, something hit his mind.

"But unlike Megatron, I lack the necessary infrastructure to enforce the reign. No warship. No army. Only my mica laboratory finds, a GroundBridge control and a single remaining dose of Red Energon," Starscream grumbled. But, he got an idea as he approached the clone of him, hung on the wall, "And you, old friend. But…I would all too gladly trade this simply to be restored to my former glory."

* * *

"While I am unfamiliar about the lore of these Omega Keys, Alpha Trion knew many secrets," Optimus stated. "The technology of the ancients has been lost to the conventions of modern science. Whatever this function, this much is certain. Without having all four Omega Keys in our possession, we can't revive Cybertron."

It was an image Megatron and Knock Out saw from Smokescreen's memory, thanks to the Cortical Psychic Patch.

"That's a wrap!" Knock Out said.

The red medic then unplugged Smokescreen and Megatron.

"The power to make Cybertron as I see fit!" Megatron realized, "I will pry the other two keys from Optimus Prime's lifeless finger. We must find the exact location of the Autobot base. Patch in and tear apart Smokescreen's mind if you must."

"Me?!" Knock Out cried in protest.

"Who else? Do you think I would entrust you to see this key safely to the vault containing the other one?" Megatron asked sarcastically, then left the lab.

"Once more into the brain pan," Knock Out grumbled.

"No! Not again! Stay out of my head!" Smokescreen pleaded.

"Now, now, you'll only make things worse for yourself," Knock Out taunted.

But much to Knock Out's surprise, Smokescreen managed to grab Phase Shifter on Knock Out's wrist.

"Worse how?!" Smokescreen snarled as he freed himself using the Phase Shifter.

The two began a pushing and tugging for Phase Shifter. They squirmed around the lab a little bit, before Smokescreen pulled himself and Knock Out to the wall. Both of them went through the wall, and Smokescreen managed to pull the Phase Shifter away. Leaving Knock Out embedded on the wall.

"Well, aren't you the clever one?" Knock Out grumbled, "This ship is miles in the sky and swarming with Decepticons! Do you really think you can escape?!"

"Who says I'm looking to escape?" Smokescreen retorted as he raced away.

* * *

Smokescreen finally stumbled upon Megatron who was in his way to storage vault. Smokescreen knew he could swipe two flies in one hit. He deactivated his Phase Shifter, raced to Megatron, and...

"THINK FAST!"

With a blink of Megatron's eye, Smokescreen snatched away the Omega Key from his hand. Then the Autobot phased through the door to the storage vault. Megatron hurriedly typed the code and opened the door. But much to his shock, the Omega Key stored there was gone, together with Smokescreen and the other key.

"RRRRRRRAAAAAAAAGGGGGHHHHHHHH!"

* * *

After getting the two Omega Keys, Smokescreen was looking for a way out. But as he strolled the hallway, he was cornered by six drones.

"Oh, so this isn't the way out?" Smokescreen asked cheekily.

The drones were firing, but all their blasts phased through Smokescreen. So, the drones ended up shooting each other instead. Smokescreen phased through more walls, and finally, he arrived at the roof of Nemesis. To make things even worse, Megatron and more drones came to pick him up.

"A pity you are incapable of flight," Megatron noted.

"Yeah. Like I'm gonna let that stop me," Smokescreen scoffed.

He was out of option alright. So, he bailed out the ship, and gritted his teeth as he made the thousands feet free fall to the ground.

* * *

"Smokescreen's signal! It's back online!" Ratchet cheered.

"The kid escaped the warship!" Bulkhead cried.

"I'd like to know how..." Aria muttered.

* * *

"Smokescreen to base, I could really use a GroundBridge," Smokescreen requested.

"Retrieve the Omega Keys! QUICKLY!" Megatron immediately ordered.

Megatron was rather impatient, and he grabbed two Vehicons at his side and threw them. One of them was flyer, the other one...a ground troop. And so, the ground Vehicons wasn't as lucky as the flyer one, as he transformed to car and did the free fall as well.

"Flyers! I need flyers!" Megatron roared.

Fearing for their lives, two more flyer drones jumped off, transformed and pursued Smokescreen.

* * *

"Setting coordinates," Ratchet reported before noticing something was off, "That's strange…"

"What's the problem?" Arcee asked.

"Smokescreen's telemetry data doesn't make sense. I can't lock on to his position!" Ratchet noted.

* * *

Smokescreen immediately detected one flying drone, and he was being fired upon. Smokescreen stashed the Omega Keys to his back, and dove faster. He activated his shifter again, and phased through the upcoming drone. He deployed his cannon and destroyed the drone.

* * *

"I've isolated the problem! Smokescreen is in free fall!" Ratchet reported.

"The only way to escape the warship, like I once did," Aria muttered as she glanced to Helios.

"Oh, you still don't get over it, do you?" Helios remarked.

* * *

"_Smokescreen! I'm opening a GroundBridge directly below you!_"

"Brace yourselves. I'm gonna make an entrance," Smokescreen warned as he deactivated the Phase Shifter.

But, Megatron came to the scene, and tackled Smokescreen away from the portal.

* * *

"He's…off course!" Ratchet gasped.

"You missed?!" Arcee exclaimed in disbelief.

"Make another one! FAST!" Bulkhead ordered.

* * *

But, ground force came fast.

"I hope proper grounding on this thing doesn't apply to actual ground," Smokescreen hoped as he activated the shifter once again.

He was merely few feet from the ground and he plummeted fast. Thankfully, he phased through the ground, unharmed. The same things couldn't be said for the pursuing Vehicon flyers, they crashed and exploded at the ground. Megatron maneuvered just in time to avoid collision.

Oh yeah, and the car drone thrown away before was also not so lucky (AN : For the first time ever, I feel bad for the Cons)

* * *

On the Autobots' monitor, Smokescreen's signal disappeared once again.

"No!" Ratchet gasped, thinking for the worse.

* * *

"Scour the wreckage!" Megatron ordered his troops once they landed on the crash site, "I WANT THOSE KEYS!"

Beneath their feet, Smokescreen came out of the ground, and contacted the base.

"Hey, Ratchet. _I could still really use that GroundBridge."_

* * *

"Did I tell ya?! Destiny! Alpha Trion knew I'd keep it safe!" Smokescreen cheered.

Arcee sighed as Smokescreen's boast. But, it was the fact that Smokescreen indeed succeeded the high-stake mission, "Nice work, kid."

"You did a good job, I have to say," Aria smiled.

"WOW! Why did you just tell me now?!" Smokescreen cheered further.

_But why there are only two? _ Bumblebee asked.

"It was the only key in Megatron's vault!" Smokescreen defended himself.

"Then three keys are accounted for," Optimus proclaimed.

"Then the fourth is still somewhere on the 'Con's warship," Bulkhead grumbled.

"Unless…Megatron never had it to begin with," Arcee shrugged.

"Then, who has the last one...?" Aria raised the mystery.

Then, their monitor beeped.

"The high frequency signal!" Ratchet noted, "With an embedded message."

"Starscream," Bulkhead snarled.

"Again?" Aria sighed, uninterested.

"I have obtained something of interest to you which used to be of no practical use to me," Ratchet read the message.

"It's gotta be the Omega Key!" Bulkhead cried.

"He's the one who blindsided me!" Smokescreen gaped.

"What else could he be referring to?" Arcee scoffed.

"Yip! Yip!" Ratchet cut in, "There's more. Bring medical kit. I only ask for the surgical placement of my T-Cog in return."

"Like we're gonna give 'Scream back his wings!" Bulkhead scoffed.

"Without the missing key, Cybertron will remain devoid of life!" Ratchet reminded him.

"Broken record, I know. But…it could be a trick," Arcee warned.

"It's possible that Starscream does not yet realize the significance of what it holds," Optimus stated.

"And we do know that he has been incapable of flight for some time," Ratchet added.

Optimus thought things over for a brief moment before finally deciding, "The stakes are too great for us not to consider Starscream's proposal. However, we will partake precautions. Ratchet, Bulkhead, you are coming with me. Ratchet, bring your medical kit. The rest of you, guard the base."

"Father, let me come too!" Aria pleaded, "This is Starscream we're talking about."

"No Aria, you will remain at base with the others," Optimus objected, "This is for safety precaution, and mostly, for your safety, my sweetspark. I would not let Starscream to be in your range of reach."

"That high-heeled Con's full with tricks, alright," Smokescreen commented.

"Oh, can you stop treating me like a little girl?" Aria scoffed, "You know that Screamy's full of tricks. Besides, this isn't just about the Omega Key, but...!"

The red Prime touched his daughter's face with his finger, eventually stopping her from talking.

"Thank you for your concern, Aria," Optimus already knew of what his daughter about to say, "But, your ability is needed to guard the base and the three other Omega Keys. I would come back with the last key. And as I collect the all four, I would restore Cybertron. As what I have promised to you, my daughter."

Aria gaped, she did remember the promise Optimus gave her. About ending the war and restoring Cybertron as fast as possible. So both of father and daughter could live happily in peace together.

"I...see..." Aria relented.

With that, Optimus, Ratchet and Bulkhead left to meet Starscream, when the rest stayed behind to guard the open portal.

* * *

Optimus and the other two exited the portal and met Starscream's body. Meanwhile, Arcee and the others stayed behind to guard the portal. Bumblebee had his blasters pointed to the open portal. Aria remained alert on platform, when Helios was in his bot mode, pointing his blasters to the portal as well.

"There!" Bulkhead called as they spotted Starscream's body leaning against rock.

"Starscream, show us the Omega Key," Optimus instructed.

But no response from the Seeker. They walked closer to examine him, and he was seemed lifeless.

"Give it up, Scream," Bulkhead grunted.

Bulkhead poked Starscream with his cannon, and Starscream just fell to his side. Ratchet immediately knew it meant, and not to mention he spotted a hole on the Decepticon's chest.

"We're too late. A T-Cog won't help him now," Ratchet decreed.

But unbeknownst to them, the body before them was only clone. The real Starscream, enhanced by Red Energon, sped to the open portal, and arrived at Autobot base. Everything was really slow around the speedy Seeker.

"It would seem I have the run of the place," Starscream remarked, "Oh, how easy it would be to gut you… To gut all of you..."

Starscream then spotted Aria on the platform. "You can boast around that you're the daughter of Prime, but in reality you're so tiny...White girl," he began to form the idea of slicing the ponytail's throat when she was in vulnerable state. He really amused at the thought if Optimus found his daughter in such way. Well, it was already Megatron's resolution for a long time. To inflict a great pain to the Prime through his family. If Starscream could accomplish what Megatron couldn't do, it would boost his rank in instant.

But, Starscream widened his eyes, as he spotted Helios.

"Who is this? Another new recruit of Autobot...?" Starscream noticed, "I felt like I've seen him somewhere..." he began to browse his memory, "That's right, he resembles the sparkling I met inside Decepticon warship, when we escaped Autobot attack back on Cybertron...but that pest was red, not bright sun orange. Plus, that pest was already exterminated, and there are some difference in body shape..."

Starscream examined Helios' body, but he decided to put the minor things aside, "But, first thing's first… Where does Optimus keep his key ring?"

Starscream headed to the storage vault, and examining one by one. Then, he stumbled upon Airachnid's stasis pod.

"I was wondering what happened to that wretch," Starscream muttered, he was frustrated as he kept searching, "Do they think I have all day?!"

Then, he hit his prizes.

"Ah…there you are…"

* * *

"Curious… Starscream has been deceased for quite some time," Ratchet observed as he read his scanner.

"Well, how's that possible if he just sent us a message?!" Bulkhead asked.

Optimus was quick to realize what had just happened.

"We have been deceived," Optimus proclaimed.

* * *

Starscream pointed his missiles to the vault, and blew it up.

"Whoa!" Arcee cried as she felt the base shake around her.

"What was that?!" Smokescreen demanded.

_Something blows up?!_ Bumblebee guessed.

The sprinkler system activated, showering the entire base with water.

"I think it comes from the storage vaults," Aria said, as she leapt off from the platform, "I'm gonna check it out."

"_Arcee, close the GroundBridge now!_"

Arcee did as instructed, but as Starscream approached, the time was slowed down. Even Aria was seemed frozen in mid-air. Starscream already collected the three keys.

"Now that I have your trinkets, I'm free to slit your throats. Starting with that little cocky ponytail girl...AGH!" Starscream gasped in horror as he saw that Arcee was about to close the GroundBridge with him still inside the base, "But as I appeared to be pressed for time…"

Starscream walked hurriedly to the bridge. Arcee closed the portal, but Starscream managed to get away. Aria finally landed on lower floor, and ran to check the source of problem.

"Uh oh, this isn't good..." she muttered as she saw the storage vault busted open, "Guys, something busted open the vault. And the Omega Keys are gone!"

* * *

Starscream exited to the forest, and he saw Optimus and the others were in fighting position.

"A-u-t-o-b-o-t-s, m-a-i-n-t-a-i-n p-o-s-i-t-i-o-n...!" well, that was how Starscream heard Optimus talked.

"I'm sorry. What was that? Mblemblemblemblemble? " Starscream mused as he walked past them, "You Autobots think you're so superior. But you know what you really are? SLOW!"

And the second later, Optimus moved at normal speed, and pointed his cannon at Starscream's face.

"The Red Energon wore off, didn't it?" Starscream chuckled nervously.

"He has the Omega Keys!" Ratchet cried.

Starscream let out a girly scream then he fired his missile to the Autobots. He took the chance to run as fast as possible. Optimus and the others immediately pursued him with showering blasts.

"Come on!" Starscream muttered, he took out his GroundBridge remote, but fumbled with it.

Starscream managed to open his GroundBridge and raced to it. Optimus and the others tried desperately to get him, but Starscream escaped, and the portal closed. With all the Omega Keys. Optimus roared loudly to the night sky in desperation.

"RRRRRRRAAAAAAAAGGGGGHHHHHHHH!"

It was so close, so close. Yet, the chance to bring Cybertron back was slipped away from their hands. And for Optimus, it was one of things he could barely tolerate. He was so close on fulfilling his promise to Aria soon.

"We'll get them back," Bulkhead vowed.

"The keys can be of no use to Starscream while he scrounges in the wild like a Scraplet. There must be something we can offer him in exchange!" Ratchet added.

"The fate of Cybertron now rests in Starscream's hands. Whatever his intentions," Optimus rumbled darkly.

* * *

"I beg you, my liege! Release me from this absurd predicament!" Knock Out begged Megatron and Dreadwing.

"No," Megatron cut harshly, "You shall serve as a constant reminder to those who dare fail me."

Megatron and Dreadwing walked away, leaving Knock Out embedded on the wall. They entered the bridge, preparing for next plan.

"I cannot allow Optimus Prime to be the one to revive Cybertron! We will locate the Autobot base, invade it and retrieve the Omega Keys!" Megatron vowed.

"Been there, done that."

They whirled around to see Starscream was there, leaning against the monitor.

"Please pardon my unannounced visit, Lord Megatron," Starscream began as he bowed towards Megatron.

Dreadwing immediately brought out his cannon and prepared to blast Starscream at anytime. However, Megatron held him back. The Dark Lord knew that Starscream had something to say.

"But I come with peace offerings," Starscream finished as he unveiled his offer.

The four Omega Keys.

* * *

Review please :3


	37. Unknown Memory

_"Whatever begun in anger shall end in shame"_

_Benjamin Franklin_

* * *

The Autobots got back to the base after they lost the Omega Keys to Starscream. No words were exchanged between them, only looks. Optimus told the members who stayed behind the base of what happened.

"Seriously?! That stiletto-creep Con snuck inside here and stole the keys?!" Smokescreen gaped in disbelief.

"But I still don't get how he did it?" Bulkhead asked.

"Judging by the last time we met him, it stands to reason that Starscream harnessed the power of speed, from Red Energon," Optimus sighed in defeat.

"I thought all of the red crystals were destroyed," Arcee argued.

"Isn't there some kind of way to contact him?" Aria asked.

"I'm afraid, as long as we cannot locate his location…" Ratchet rumbled, "It's out of question."

They all went silent again. Until Optimus finally broke the silence.

"The day has gotten so late, and we all have exhausted ourselves for today's events," Optimus announced, "It would be the best if we get some rest for time being."

"Well, since there's little we can do right now…" Aria added.

"I'll be returning to my station," Helios said, "If there's any emergency, just alert me. My comm will stay open all the time."

"Thank you for your cooperation, Helios," Optimus thanked.

"Don't mention it, it's already my job," Helios smiled a bit to the Prime, then walked to Aria, "I have a request. Lend me Alpha Trion's Heart."

"…Okay…" Aria replied unsure, but then she brought out Alpha Trion's Heart of Wisdom from her chestplate. "May I ask what for?"

"I thought I'd not be interested, but…" Helios trailed off, "But, I really started to get very curious…"

"Okay, no need to continue," Aria cut in, "But, tell me if you get something interesting, okay?"

"Very well," Helios smiled. He cradled the winged jewel on his hands, and opened his human-sized GroundBridge.

As everybody walked to their own quarters for rest, Aria decided to have words with Optimus. She followed him in the hallway.

"Father," Aria called out, eventually getting the Prime's attention, "Are you alright…?" she asked worriedly.

Optimus glanced to his daughter then to the wall, unsure of what to answer. "I am fine, my dear."

"I hope you're telling me the truth," Aria stated, "There's no way you'd be alright now." Only Aria who could tell the hidden expression of Optimus, who was always good at hiding his problem.

"Thank you for your concern. But somehow, I would manage it," Optimus replied with a smile.

But Aria knew it was a forced smile, "...Well, if that's what you want. I shall return to my room." With that, Aria turned away and left.

"Aria," Optimus called out.

"Yes?"

"Forgive me."

"For what?" Aria raised her eyebrow.

"For my lack of foresight. The lost of Omega Keys to Starscream was partly my fault," Optimus apologized.

"It wasn't your fault, father," the ponytail replied, "Why you have to apologize for that? To me, nonetheless."

"It is for not only that. For the recent weeks I abandoned my duty as your father, and left myself deep with the Iacon database," Optimus knelt down, "It really hurt me to leave you for most of the time."

Aria gaped, so Optimus was aware that they had never spent time together when he was busy with decoding Iacon database. True, they barely interacted when Optimus was with the database, which made the girl felt a little bit lonely for recent weeks.

"No need to say sorry, it can't be helped, right?" Aria sighed, "I'm a big girl, see? I can take care of myself. Besides, this is for the sake of Cybertron, for everything we've fought so far. We already went this far, and there was no turning back."

"Indeed, my dear. Which is why, I want to make my promise to you comes true as soon as possible," Optimus stated sadly, "Which, sadly, could not happen anytime soon."

"It's okay, we will fight for it together," Aria touched Optimus' legs affectionally, "We won't go down without a good fight."

Finally, Optimus allowed himself to smile, the real, genuine, sweet smile.

"Say, since it has been a while..." Aria trailed and giggled, "Is it okay if I sleep in your room for tonight?"

"Of course, my sweetspark," Optimus then gently scooped the ponytail, and went inside his quarter.

* * *

**AN : For the event with two Helioses, Helios the White would be addressed as 'Adrian' to avoid confusion. **

* * *

Adrian arrived back at his own base, the place was rather dark. He turned on the lamp, and briefly examining his latest project on his table. The brunette boy sighed, then he peered to Heart of Alpha Trion.

He borrowed that thing because there were some things he wanted to know. He first didn't take any interest in previous Helios' life, or whoever his creators were. But Dreadwing talked like the original Helios was a sparkling from someone really important. And it really started to make Adrian really curious. So, he decided to use Alpha Trion's Heart, which had the ability to peer the past.

"Show me," Adrian ordered. The jewel started to glow bright white, and Adrian closed his eyes.

* * *

When he opened his eyes, he was on Cybertron. But it wasn't the real Cybertron, merely a vision from the past. Adrian saw the metallic city was on fire. Flier Decepticons roamed around the dusk sky, and there were blast showers everywhere. Explosions rocked the entire ground.

Adrian saw one building with Decepticon symbol on its door. But it wasn't the Decepticon hideout, merely a triage facility. The White boy noticed many drones came and gone the facility. The Decepticon soldiers went inside to get their injuries treated.

And as Adrian came to the interior, there he saw the boy. Helios, the sparkling. He was a fresh newborn. Helios bore the similar appearance with Adrian's Cybertronian body, only Helios was red-dominant. He was brawling with another sparkling on his age.

"Give back my toy!" Helios shrieked as he punched the other.

"No! It's mine!"

"Helios, Blitzwing! Cut it out!" one Vehicon came and interfered the fight.

"He stole my toy!" Helios shrieked.

"I got it first!" Blitzwing defended.

"I don't care who's at fault. We're extremely busy here! Don't add our job with your annoying brawling!" the drone scolded.

Helios and Blitzwing scoffed at each other. That somehow amused Adrian. Helios was tenacious and brave sparkling, completely different from Adrian once was. Then, Helios started to walk away.

"And where are you off to? You're not allowed to leave the facility!" the drone yelled.

"To my dad's place!" Helios merely said.

"You're not allowed to enter the Decepticon's headquarters, sparkling. Didn't you hear Commander Starscream's order?"

"Like that high heeled creep could scare me. I have to have words with dad," Helios then walked out of the facility.

"By the way, I haven't heard," another drone approached, "Who's that boy's creator?"

"Dunno, there's no data or creation form of that boy in our computer system."

Adrian immediately warped to the Decepticon headquarter. It was far bigger than the triage facility. The place was heavily guarded by top ranked warriors of Decepticon. And on top of the building was Megatron's statue.

The White boy looked at the interior of the headquarter. There weren't just Decepticons, but also Autobots. The prisoners, to be exact. Adrian spotted an Autobot being hung from the ceiling, and Starscream was torturing him for information.

"Why don't we just make it easy?" Starscream tormented as he held up Energon prod, "Just tell me where is Ultra Magnus' unit stand by, and I will make your death quick."

"Never..." the Autobot refused.

"Very well..." Starscream then poked the prod again.

_ZAAAPPP_

The scream of the poor Autobot echoed through the brig section. Even Adrian just turned away from the scene, he couldn't stand it. He knew that Decepticon lifestyle was nuts, but he never imagined it would be like that. Then, Helios came by and peeked from a hole. As a little sparkling, it was easy for him to sneak around.

"Oh, they have a new guy here?" Helios noted, "Another fun toy for that high-heeled creep, huh?"

Eventually, Starscream caught a glimpse of the little sneaker. "HEY! WHO IS OVER THERE?!"

Helios was quick to move away before Starscream could catch him red handed. With that, Starscream walked out of the brig with two other Decepticons.

"Commander, it's no use. The prisoners wouldn't speak anything, despite the investigation trick," one Decepticon said.

"I know, Thundercracker. If we do not pinpoint the Autobot's location, there is no telling when they would launch surprise attack," Starscream said, "Thundercracker, Ramjet, keep trying to make them speak. I have something else to attend."

Both of Thundercracker and Ramjet bowed before returning to the brig. Starscream walked to another direction. Then all of the sudden, the entire base shook violently by huge explosion.

"Speak of the devil..." Starscream muttered in annoyance.

"_Commander Starscream! The base is under attack of the Autobots!"_

Outside the base, Autobot forces already arrived, with one bot in blue in command. They bombarded Decepticon hideout with grenades and missiles, and still kept safe distance to the fortress itself. Decepticon fliers soon deployed and retaliated. The ground Autobots quickly took cover and fired back, when the others looked for chance to sneak in.

"Optimus, we have located the hideout!" the blue bot reported to his radio, "We will be securing our soldiers imprisoned inside. We may require additional back up!"

"The perimeter is secured, Ultra Magnus, sir!" one Autobot reported, "However, the security is tighter than we have expected. It will take some time before we can break the defense line!"

"Keep trying! Team AE-09 will come with me for direct strike! Warpath! You lead your troop to provide cover fire! Our objective is storming the Decepticon hideout! Freeing the prisoners would be our first priority!" Ultra Magnus instructed. "We will move once the barricade is down!"

"YES SIR!"

The Decepticon base was quick to be on fire. Adrian shielded himself in reflex as another missile struck him, even though it wouldn't harm him in anyway. The Decepticons were trying desperately to defend their base, but they were outnumbered at that time.

"_Commander! The defense line is broken!_" Thundercracker reported.

"Hold them as long as you can!" Starscream commanded, "At this rate, the base is lost. Prepare the emergency ship for evacuation! We will abandon this base and city at once!"

So, the Decepticons led by Starscream prepared for evacuation. The emergency ship was a smaller version of Nemesis. Meanwhile, Helios was on his own, in middle of nowhere, surrounded by fire. The helpless sparkling was scared, and confused.

"What's happening?!" he sobbed, "Dad! Someone! Help me!"

But there was no one around to rescue the little red boy. Nevertheless, the Decepticons were busy with evacuating, not checking for survivor. Even Adrian started to feel sorry for Helios. Helios then searched for his escape, then stumbled to the storage vault. He spotted a metal container, big enough for him to get in. So, Helios quickly got inside the metal container, hoping that it would shield him from the fire.

The unexpected happened, the drones came by and picked everything in the storage. Including the metal container with Helios inside. They transported everything to the emergency ship, and they escaped the city.

Adrian came to the scene of the ship. The metal container with everything else were put inside the ship's storage. As the drones left, Helios came out of the box.

"Where is this?" he asked as he looked around, "Dad...? Are you here?"

Helios came out of the storage vault and wandered around the hallway. That was when he stumbled upon Starscream in the hallway. And the 2nd in command didn't look happy.

"I remembered ordering the workers to transport everything still usable...not a puny, useless sparkling..." Starscream grumbled, "Hey you! This is not a playground! Oh scrap, we cannot return to surface anytime soon..."

"Have you seen my dad?" Helios asked sheepishly.

"Now, do I have to know who is your sorry creator?" Starscream snarled.

Then, Starscream raised his foot. He kicked away the little sparkling as hard as he could. Helios crashed to the wall, and slumped to the floor. Helios was currently a small sparkling, and wasn't equipped with thick armor to protect his inner. So, Starscream's kick managed to make him gravely injured.

"In this kind of time, we do not need a puny useless pest in our rank. Nor that we would want to botsit," Starscream walked forward, and presented his claw, "You don't seem to have any value for my troops. I would just dispose you, here and now."

Helios got the strength to get up and run away. Starscream was quickly pursuing him, but somehow Helios managed to outrun the bigger Con. Helios decided to hide in the hangar. The little sparkling moaned in pain and clutched his injured chest plate. Energon was leaking out of his injury. Soon, he heard Starscream approaching.

"Dad...where are you? Help me...!" Helios silently prayed.

But, the time was ticking, Starscream's foot was seen from the door. Helios spotted a pod. Having no other choice, he hid inside the pod. But it wasn't ordinary pod, it was long-distance escape pod. Helios accidentally activated it, and the pod was jettisoned to the space.

And until that part, Adrian managed to sum most part of it.

"Poor kid..." the brunette boy muttered.

Adrian knew that the human scientists found Helios inside the pod on Earth. And the red sparkling was deceased. Adrian quickly assumed, the pod somehow ended up on Earth. And Helios, during the interstellar travel, must have succumbed to his injury. That being said, Starscream was at blame for Helios' death.

But, there were more things still uncovered. Helios' creator, that was. And so, Adrian warped back to the fiery Decepticon base. To the storage vault. Everything inside the vault was already inside the ship. The base itself was already completely invaded by the Autobots. Then, Adrian heard someone was coming.

"Helios! Are you here?! Where are you?!" it was a male voice, "HELIOS!"

Adrian whirled around to see someone. But, he couldn't tell who it was because the Decepticon was surrounded by inferno. But, the figure came closer and closer.

Before Adrian could see the face, everything went black.

* * *

"AUGH!" Adrian cried in pain as the vision was stopped abruptly. Some invisible force made him collapsing on his knees. The Heart of Alpha Trion still hovered at his side, and the bright white light dimmed down a little bit. Adrian also started to pant heavily.

"Out of stamina already...?" he gasped out. Using such power to peer the past really took a toll on him. But, he felt like something just stopped him from peering further.

_You already knew on how I died. You don't need to know on how I was born._

Adrian gasped, Helios' voice echoed inside his head. And the voice was angry.

_You don't need to know. A shameful creature could only be born from another shameful creature..._

Somehow, Helios' voice was angry and sad at the same time. Like, he was ashamed of someone. Or rather, holding a grudge against someone. Nevertheless, Adrian grunted in annoyance. Why was Helios preventing him from knowing his creator? The vision cleared some mysteries for him, but raised more mysteries.

* * *

Rather hard to write and create Decepticon daily journal, I don't know if I did a good job. Reviews are welcomed :3


	38. Regeneration

_"A very small degree of hope is sufficient to cause the birth of love"_

_Stendhal_

* * *

"You know, I may not be the first human to go to Cybertron. But I could still be the first human exchange student," Miko stated as she was sitting on Bulkhead's shoulder.

"Why didn't you tell us about the Omega Keys before?" Jack questioned Arcee.

"You probably didn't notice. But things have been intense around here lately," Arcee shrugged.

"So, you guys could really be going home soon, huh?" Raf sighed, earned sad look from Bumblebee.

"Don't worry, Raf. You can come visit. Once we get our place set up, you can bunk with us. Right, Bulk?" Miko asked her guardian.

"Er, Miko…," Bulkhead began nervously.

"You are taking me with you, right?" Miko inquired nervously, "Come on, you're taking Aria and Helios, why not me as well?"

"Totally different scenario, Miko," Aria sighed. The position of Aria and Helios as Prime's guardian made them have to go wherever Prime goes. Aside of that, Optimus and Aria were family. And, both of the half Cybertronians didn't have anywhere else to go.

"Aren't we getting ahead of ourselves here?" Ratchet questioned, "Not only do we possess any actual method of reaching Cybertron. But Starscream now controls the sole means of our planet's restoration."

"As far as we know," Optimus cut in.

"You think Starscream's rejoined the 'Cons?" Smokescreen guessed.

"He may have used the Omega Keys to buy back Megatron's favor," Arcee stated.

"I'd expect the same from Screamy," Aria rolled her eyes.

"Without first trying to sell them to the highest bidder?" Ratchet scoffed in disbelief, "It wouldn't surprise me if he had the nerves to contact us and...!"

The computer bleeped as soon as Ratchet said those words to the others.

"OK. That's weird," Bulkhead remarked.

"Is it Starscream?" Arcee asked.

"No. It is Dreadwing," Ratchet corrected, "And he wants us to meet."

"What for?" Aria asked.

"He did not mention it," Ratchet said.

"Okay then," Aria reached for her comm, "Helios, duty call. Time to roll."

* * *

Optimus, Arcee, Aria, Bulkhead, Bumblebee, Helios and Smokescreen arrived at the location of Dreadwing's coordinates. They transformed and flipped their weapons.

"Drop your weapons!" Arcee instructed.

"Hands where we can see them!" Smokescreen added.

Then, Dreadwing appeared from the thick fog.

"I am not here to fight," Dreadwing said, "But to give you this."

They looked to the ground, and spotted the familiar hammer.

"The Forge of Solus Prime!" Arcee asked warily.

"Could be rigged to blow," Bulkhead stated.

"Dreadwing, what do you ask in return?" Optimus asked.

"Only that you use it wisely," Dreadwing answered.

"And the Omega Keys?" Arcee pressed.

"In Megatron's possession under heaviest guard," Dreadwing revealed.

"Scream did make a deal with the 'Cons!" Bulkhead exclaimed.

"It's not like you at all to do this kind of thing. What happened, Dreadwing?" Helios asked as well.

"A shadow of disgrace has been cast upon the Decepticons. It is a cause that I no longer wish to be part of. I cannot tell you more than that," Dreadwing confessed, then he looked directly to Helios, "And by this time, I finally realized that you have made the wisest choice, Helios."

"Then I appeal to you again," Optimus said as he stepped forward, "Join us and help us end this conflict once and for all."

"Betraying my kind is not the same as accepting yours," Dreadwing shook his head.

"But you said my choice was the wisest, Dreadwing?" Helios asked.

"You and I were different in any way, Helios. Despite of your Cybertronian identity, you are a reincarnation of Holy Saint," Dreadwing sighed, "Compared to me, and my twin, who were born this way..."

"You can always choose," Helios said, "Maybe the 'wisest choice' of mine is not the wisest for you. But I do hope that you choose your wisest choice as well."

"I will do just that," Dreadwing started to walk away.

The blue Seeker transformed and rocketed away. The team gathered around the Forge of Solus Prime.

"Seems that you're getting along with Dreadwing, huh?" Bulkhead commented to Helios.

"Not really..." Helios sighed, "But, he's the only one different from any other Decepticons, in some way."

* * *

"It's no Star Saber. But I reckon it can shatter Megatron's blade and put some dents in that ugly mug of his," Smokescreen said.

"It's not that kind of hammer," Arcee corrected.

"With the Decepticons in possession of all four Omega Keys, a more appropriate use of the Forge would be to use it to replicate our own," Ratchet suggested.

"Even with such power, a reconstruction would require a higher level of expertise I do not possess," Optimus concurred with Talida's objection.

"I guess we'd better hope that Megatron doesn't destroy the keys to prevent anyone from ever going home," Arcee prayed.

"Megatron may be evil. But I believe he will use the keys for their intended purpose," Optimus added.

"Well, I say we let him keep them and do the work for us!" Bulkhead suggested, earning glares from everybody else in the room, causing him to scoff, "Well, what difference does it make in who restores Cybertron?!"

"If Megatron revives Cybertron, he'll certainly use it to his political advantage," Optimus replied.

"W..you..wha...you lost me," Bulkhead stuttered.

"It is in all likelihood that the leader of the Decepticons would portray himself as our planet's savior and brand all Autobots as war criminals," Optimus clarified.

"The grand deception continues," Arcee muttered.

"Megatron's so-called achievement would influence Cybertron for eons to come. Poisoning the sparks and minds of its returning citizens. Hardly the ideal way to begin a new age," Ratchet remarked.

"But there is hope," Optimus decreed, earning looks of confusion, "For while Megatrom may have the keys, he had yet to discover the existence of the Omega Lock itself."

"Omega Lock?!" Bulkhead repeated in confusion.

"Wait. Now you lost me," Arcee admitted.

"That which the four relics were designed to activate. We must locate the device before Megatron does and secure it until we can recover the keys," Optimus proclaimed.

"There are no more Iacon entries to decode!" Ratchet noted, "This lock could be anywhere on Earth!"

"WHAT?!" everyone else exclaimed in surprise.

"How do you know?!" Ratchet demanded.

"Let me guess, the big A?" Aria guessed.

"Indeed. Alpha Trion revealed its location to me through unlocked the message hidden away in Star Saber," Optimus merely answered.

"And you didn't think to tell us," Ratchet sighed, clearly offended.

"Alpha Trion did not wish it so," the Prime replied shortly. With the Forge of Solus Prime, we now possess the means of reaching Cybertron. I must work quickly, as our tactical advantage over Megatron would not last long."

"Let's hope it will last a little bit longer this time," Aria muttered.

* * *

"Dreadwing."

Megatron called over Dreadwing who was walking through Nemesis hallway. Now that he didn't want to be loyal to the Decepticons, he merely gritted in anger. But, Dreadwing whirled around and pretended to be loyal still.

"I have been searching for you," Megatron said.

"I am at your service, Lord Megatron," Dreadwing bowed.

"I recognize that Starscream's return to our ranks may be difficult for you. Given the loss of your twin under his command," Megatron began, "But your cooperation is essential. The Decepticons will be best equipped to rule a restored Cybertron only if we are united."

"Understood. And if it pleases you, master, I intend to reach out to our comrade. Personally," Dreadwing proclaimed.

* * *

"Rise and shine…"

Starscream just emerged from stasis after Knock Out installed his T-cog.

"Your T-Cog transplant was a success!" Knock Out decreed before gloating, "Yes, I am just that good."

"Finally, I cannot wait to take flight and swore above the clouds," Starscream noted happily.

"STARSCREAM!"

Knock Out and Starscream froze in horror at the angry and grudging voice. Dreadwing was on the door, with a face ready to kill.

"I regret to inform you that you will not live to spread your wings ever again," Dreadwing growled.

Angered, Dreadwing brought out his cannon and fired at Starscream's head. Scared, Knock Out and Starscream scrambled away to avoid Dreadwing's rage.

"Knock Out! Help me!" Starscream begged.

But, Knock Out merely ran out of the lab to save his life. Left alone, Starscream desperately thought how to defend from the angry blue jet. He picked a drill from the table as weapon.

"Dreadwing! What has gotten into you?!" Starscream demanded, then to be scared even more as Dreadwing merely slashed the drill with his sword, "No! Wait! This is about Skyquake, isn't it?! I thought we had put that behind us!"

"SO HAD I!" Dreadwing snarled as he swiped his sword to Starscream's head. The latter just barely dodged it.

"Casualties are an unfortunate consequence of war! But I assure you your twin met his end with great honor!" Starscream cried.

"WHICH YOU HAVE DISGRACED BY RAISING HIM FROM THE DEAD!" Dreadwing roared in anger.

"Oh, you know about that," Starscream muttered to himself before pleading, "THERE MUST BE SOMETHING I CAN DO! SOME FORM OF REPORATION TO ABLOVIATE YOUR GRIEF!"

"YOUR SPARK WILL SURFICE!" Dreadwing declared before preparing to behead Starscream.

"DREADWING!"

Megatron was already on the door.

"STAND DOWN!" Megatron ordered.

"THIS DESECRATOR MUST PAY FOR HIS ACTIONS!" Dreadwing objected.

"YOU CALL THIS LOYALTY, MASTER?!" Starscream screeched in disbelief.

"I SAID STAND DOWN!" Megatron raised his voice, "THAT IS AN ORDER!"

"One which I cannot follow," Dreadwing growled, it was his first rebellion against his master.

Dreadwing raised his sword again, but he never got the chance to strike. He gasped in shock when a hole burst through his chest plate. Created by Megatron with Dreadwing's own cannon. Dreadwing took his last breath, and dropped dead on the floor.

"I'm okay, I'm okay!" Starscream cried in relief before bowing to his savior, "Lord Megatron! You have my eternal thanks!"

"Do not ever make me regret which one of you I spared," Megatron threatened.

* * *

"Is it my imagination?" Arcee began as she approached Bulkhead and Bumblebee, "Or has Optimus been acting differently since Alpha Trion's visit?"

_I noticed it too_ Bumblebee added.

"Yeah, he been keeping things from us," Bulkhead agreed, "Not really the first time. Before this, he kept the fact that he had a family."

"For that one, I could understand. Arianna was Optimus' only daughter. He did everything he could to keep his daughter safe. But this one, even Aria and Ratchet are been left out of the loop," Arcee pointed out.

"Alpha Trion wanted it to be that way, remember?" Aria joined in.

"And tell me, did you really know of everything that Alpha Trion stored in the sword?" Arcee asked.

"No, I didn't know. I and Helios were with Prima, remember?" Aria rubbed her head sheepishly, "So...I had no idea..."

"Well, give me one good reason why Optimus didn't trust his own teammates!" Bulkhead demanded.

"Because if they had, Megatron would have pulled it out of my head with his patch," Smokescreen answered as he joined the conversation.

"And our tactical advantage wouldn't have longer period," Helios stepped in, "Keeping the trump card secret is part of the strategy after all."

"Like it matters. The 'Cons are holding all the keys anyway," Bulkhead muttered.

* * *

"Tick tock, Knock Out!" Starscream said to the red medic, "Tick tock! Megatron's expecting results! And given what we just witnessed, I say we can't afford to disappoint our master!"

"We?!" Knock Out snapped, "Unless nagging counts, I haven't seen you lift a finger!"

"I am the one who brought him the keys!" Starscream reminded the scientist, "Do I really need to prove myself further by cyphering how they operate too?!"

"Well, perhaps if my research hadn't been sidelined by somebody's cosmetic surgery, I might be further along right now!" Knock Out retorted.

"Oh! Just give it here!" Starscream snatched one Omega Key, and bashed it to the table.

"Oh gee. Why didn't I think of that?!" Knock Out asked himself sarcastically.

Starscream didn't take that well, so he swiped Knock Out with the key. Knock Out then retaliated using another key. And as the two keys bashed together, they merged into one. It really surprised both of the Decepticons.

"Do you think…?" Knock Out trailed off.

The two were quick to grab the two remaining keys that were lying on the table.

"Ready? GO!" Starscream instructed.

They combined all four keys. After being combined, the keys projected an image of Cybertron. And there was a single line light that pointed to certain location on the surface.

Starscream chuckled, "And that is why Dreadwing is pushing up lugnuts!"

"And we are not!" Knock Out added with a smirk.

* * *

"Of course!" Megatron cried once Starscream and Knock Out showed him , "Keys are useless without something to unlock! Target the Space Bridge for Cybertron!"

* * *

"Yet another astonishing convergence of magic and science," Ratchet said in amazement as he stared to their GroundBridge, "Courtesy of the ancients."

"And our leader!" Smokescreen added.

"It's hard to believe! A few swings of that hammer and BAM!" Bulkhead exclaimed.

"A GroundBridge is now a Space Bridge," Arcee proclaimed.

Then the computers beeped loudly.

"Our sensors are picking up a large Energon burst right outside Earth's atmosphere," Ratchet announced before turning to face the others, "A surge like that could only mean one thing. Activation of another Space Bridge."

"Megatron has discovered that the Omega Lock is on Cybertron," Optimus realized.

"I seriously begin to think that Megajerk isn't ordinary living shark teeth demon!" Aria cried out.

"You begin to think? I already knew that long before," Helios remarked sarcastically.

"It appears we have lost our advantage!" Ratchet gasped.

"But Megatron doesn't know that we can now do interstellar travel. We still possess the element of surprise," Optimus said.

"We must embark on this mission with every resource at our disposal!"

With that being said, all of the Autobots headed to the storage vault. To take every weapon stored there, all the Iacon relics that they had retrieved. Bulkhead took Immobilizer, Bumblebee took Polarity Gauntlet, Arcee took Apex Armour, and Smokescreen with Spark Extractor. Meanwhile, Aria and Helios were checking their own weapons.

"Locked and loaded," Aria smirked as she swirled around her White Gemini Saber, then she heard Helios sighed.

"Since I was born, I never imagined that I'd do this kind of thing," Helios remarked as he stared at his reflection on Falcon Axe.

"Never did I, Adrian," Aria added.

"This is interstellar level of event, Fortress Units would be our best choice," Helios remarked.

"But, the Units aren't our levels yet. Even if we can utilize both of them, in my opinion Fortress Units are a waste to be used now," Aria suggested, "I'd say we keep them as safety measure, only for necessary moment."

"I think so too. It will be the best if we don't expose all of our trump cards at the start," Helios finished.

* * *

Nemesis was on its way to Space Bridge on the moon. Megatron was on the roof, with a troop of flying drones. It was an open war, and Megatron would need everything on his sleeves.

"Starscream, assume command in my absence," Megatron ordered.

"I would be honored, master," Starscream bowed.

Megatron raced forward, transformed, and rocketed to the open portal. All Vehicons immediately did the same and followed their leader.

* * *

The Autobots' new Space Bridge was activated. The team was prepared to go to Cybertron. But, they heard banging sound from the other side of base.

"What's he forging now?" Bulkhead asked.

With that, Optimus stepped in with the repaired Star Saber. He first glanced to his daughter, as if he promised something through eye contact. Then, Optimus glanced at all of his teammates.

"Megatron must be stopped no matter the cost!" Optimus proclaimed.

Optimus transformed and led the way to the portal. All the Autobots soon followed suit. Aria deployed her rollerblades when Helios activated his jetpack. They had two important missions; revive Cybertron and end the war once and for all. Aria and Helios exchanged glance to each other as they raced through the Space Bridge.

"We won't let them win," Aria vowed.

"Absolutely," Helios nodded, "For our prides."

* * *

Megatron arrived first at the surface of Cybertron. The home planet of all Cybertronians, Autobot and Decepticons alike. It was already a dead planet for millennia, and still remained dead for current time. Both sides didn't want anything else besides reviving their home planet.

"According to the landmarks displayed by the keys, the object we seek is located deep within the Sea of Rust," Megatron noted.

* * *

Ratchet spent time by pacing back and forth in front of monitors. He was very tense, and nervous. Then, a beep from the commlink startled the CMO.

"Optimus?" Ratchet answered hopefully.

"_Uh, no, Ratchet. It's Jack._ Is something wrong?" Jack asked, "Cause school's been out for almost an hour and no one's showed up to pick us up."

"That's because the entire team is rather…indisposed at the moment," Ratchet trailed off, "_I suggest you obtain an alternative mode of transport._"

"What's he saying?" Miko inquired.

"The 'Bots are busy," Jack answered.

"Then tell Ratchet to come get us," Miko suggested, "_It's not like he has anything else to do!_"

"Just go home! I will be in touch later!" Ratchet snapped before cut the link abruptly.

"He hung up," Jack informed his two friends.

"What crawled up his tailpipe and died?" Miko asked sarcastically.

"Did Ratchet tell you what's going on?" Raf asked worriedly.

"No. They seem to be keeping us in the dark a lot lately," Jack pointed out.

* * *

Megatron checked his scanner when they walked to the place full of rust fog. As the name implied, Sea of Rust. The Vehicons followed their leader, but failed to notice Smokescreen emerged from the ground using Phase Shifter. Smokescreen launched surprise attack and blasted two Vehicons.

"What just happened?!" Megatron demanded as the chaos started.

The drones opened fire to Smokescreen, but unbeknownst to them, he had company. Helios disguised himself as rocks using Hologram Projector. The White boy opened his camouflage and joined Smokescreen in firing the drones. Smokescreen retreated by phasing through walls, when Helios rocketed up and disappeared behind thick fog.

"Helios and Smokescreen?!" Megatron gasped in horror, "But that's impossible! The Autobots do not possess the means to…"

His words were cut short as one heavy vehicle was lifted up by Bumblebee using Polarity Gauntlet. He dropped it and crushed several drones beneath. Bumblebee soon retreated to avoid next attack.

"CRUSH HIM!" Megatron ordered.

Bumblebee transformed and raced away as the drones showered him with blasts. At the same time, Helios emerged from the sky like a drop rocket. Helios swung around his Falcon Axe, fiery and burning. He crushed one drone beneath his feet, and beheaded several more with the axe.

Bulkhead appeared from the roof of building and froze a group of drones with Immobilizer. He jumped down and fired his cannon. Bumblebee and Smokescreen joined the green bot. Arcee and Aria were on the roof as well, blasting several drones before taking their position.

"You ready?" Arcee asked her pupil.

"Anytime, ma'am!" Aria decreed as she took out her twin saber.

Both femmes jumped down with their weapons. Arcee put the Apex Armor in, and soon the slender femme grew into bulky one. Arcee and Aria made their way and joined the group. Aria delivered several white waves from her twin blades, eventually creating an opening for her team to strike in.

"DEFEND THE KEYS!" Megatron roared.

Four drones held the Omega Keys when the others surrounded them, acting as barrier. Arcee made a perfect use of Apex Armor, as she bashed her ways through the drones. Bumblebee proved himself as more than just scout, when Bulkhead did what he was best in. Smokescreen used his Phase Shifter quite well, warping behind the drones and took them out.

Aria and Helios worked as partners, they put their backs to each other and chomped down drones with their blades.

"This is not how I expected my first journey to Cybertron to be..." Helios muttered as he severed one drone's head.

"You and me both. The damage on the surface is far worse than what I saw in Arianna's memory," Aria replied as she too, sliced one Vehicon into two, "Keep this in mind. Cybertron will be our forever home once we end this."

Megatron took out his Dark Star Saber and advanced forward with the remaining Vehicons. Optimus came into scene, took out his Star Saber, and once again got in sword fight with Megatron.

"I bested your little blade once," Megatron began as he locked blade with Optimus, "And do not forget that I snuffed your daughter once. I shall do it again, to add one more name to your deceased daughter list!"

"You are not to touch Aria, not as long as I still function!" Optimus roared as he kicked Megatron.

The Autobots already smashed thin the barricade, and there were little drones to guard the Keys. Bulkhead froze the four drones who held the Omega Keys, and Bumblebee used the Polarity Gauntlet to take the four keys. He, Bulkhead, Arcee, and Smokescreen each got one. Already taking what they needed, they all retreated.

Optimus delivered a blue saber and threw Megatron to the roof of building. The Autobots took the chance to retreat with the Omega Keys in hands. Several Vehicons transformed and pursued the Autobots.

"You go ahead," Helios said, as he hovered around to face the pursuers. He spread out his force field to deflect any Vehicons chasing them, "That will do," he said as he turned around and flew away.

"I will have those keys! OR I WILL HAVE YOUR SPARKS!" Megatron screamed to the Vehicons.

"I can help with the last part," Smokescreen smirked as he emerged from rocks with Spark Extractor on his hands.

"THE SPARK EXTRACTOR!" Megatron gasped in horror.

Smokescreen blasted several drones, then phased back to the ground when activating Spark Extractor at same time. The device then produced a wide shockwave that claimed every spark of Cybertronian nearby. The shockwave grew bigger and bigger. Megatron threw his sword and destroyed the Spark Extractor before it could reach him. After the shockwave died down, Megatron leapt down and retrieved his purple sword.

"STARSCREAM!" Megatron called, "The Autobots have seized the Omega Keys. Send reinforcements immediately!"

* * *

"Actually, Lord Megatron," Starscream began, "Soundwave has been briefing me on recent developments. And we may have a more effective solution."

* * *

The Autobots drove for quite a time, when Helios kept on scanning the area from the air. As they arrived at some point, they all transformed to bipedal mode.

"Our head start won't last long," Arcee pointed out.

"You said it," Aria remarked.

"This is where Alpha Trion said we'd find it, right?" Smokescreen asked.

"These are the coordinates," Bulkhead nodded.

They finally came into view with the lock itself.

"Doesn't look like much," Bulkhead remarked.

Optimus stepped forward and dusted off the surface of the lock. There, he confirmed it.

"The real deal?" Aria asked as she stood beside her father.

"Indeed," Optimus nodded.

* * *

"_Ratchet, we have located the Omega Lock!_"

"At last!" Ratchet sighed in relief, as victory was already one step ahead.

* * *

"According to Alpha Trion, the Omega Lock is a conduit to the very AllSpark itself," Optimus explained.

"Optimus," Smokescreen began as he stepped forward, holding one of the Omega Keys in his hands, "An honor like this shouldn't belong to me..."

Smokescreen was about to hand the Omega Key, when it suddenly glowed and shook. The other Keys did so as well. The Omega Lock reacted with the Keys. A Cybertronian Ancient circle formed on the ground around their feet. Four pillars emerged from the ground, and together they formed a big plate on top of the Omega Lock.

Aria stared at the swirling light on the circular plate, then all of Cybertron's images flashed through her minds. What Arianna's memory provided her were the images of destruction and chaos of the planet. Arianna herself never witnessed the Golden Age of her home planet. Aria put her hand on her chest, as if she could connect to her late sister by that. Even if Arianna couldn't ever live in Cybertron's peace time, she surely would smile. That Cybertron finally would have its Golden Age.

But, the sound of jet engine interrupted their moment. It was Megatron's engine roaring. Optimus took out his Star Saber, and the others also took out their weapons. Megatron landed in front of them, and walked casually.

"Autobots, I would suggest that you put a halt to your tasks," Megatron suggested, "And hand over those keys."

"And why would we do that?" Smokescreen asked dryly.

A portal opened behind Megatron. Knock Out, Soundwave, and Starscream walked out of it, with unexpected cargos. Jack, Miko and Raf were held hostage, in airtight containers. The Autobots couldn't contain their horrors as they saw that.

"So that I may hand over the humans," Megatron answered as he pointed to the children.

"No way..." Aria gasped in horror.

"And if I refuse?" Optimus inquired.

"Then I will have no choice but to open the pods, exposing your pets to Cybertron's toxic atmosphere. And then, we can all watch them instantly perish together," Megatron answered.

Optimus was in big dilemma, so were the rest of the team. If they handed over the Keys, the children would survive but then the future of Cybertron would be in Megatron's hands. Megatron would surely use the chance to be the sole rule of Cybertron and overthrew all Autobots. Then, if they refused, Cybertron would be saved, but the children wouldn't. For the Autobots, Jack, Miko and Raf were already part of their family. Losing them would mean losing the whole world for the Autobots.

Which one should they sacrifice? The duty as Cybertron's people, or as Earth and humankind's protector?


	39. Darkest Hour

_"In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends"_

_Marthin Luther King Jr. _

* * *

The Autobots and Decepticons were still in Mexican standoff. The Autobots held the Omega Keys when the Decepticons had Jack, Miko and Raf. Nobody wanted to make a move, not wanting to sacrifice the humans' lives.

Miko kicked at the container and groaned, "Not how I wanted to spend my first trip to Cybertron."

"Starscream..." Megatron ordered.

"Jack! Time to come out and play!" Starscream sang as he lifted Jack's container, and scratched the glass with his claws.

"Go ahead," Jack snarled, "The Autobots are prepared to sacrifice themselves for our planet. I'll do the same for theirs."

"Me too, creepy!" Miko piped in as she turned to face Knock Out.

Raf gulped nervously before hesitantly nodding in agreement. For a 12 years old boy, Raf knew he was too young to die or to perform dangerous sacrifice act.

"Perhaps we should oblige them," Megatron suggested.

"If my decision dooms the future of the Autobot cause on Cybertron, so be it. But I will never forsake our human allies," Optimus decided.

Optimus stabbed Star Saber to the ground, and took few step backs. He glanced at his team who had dilemma looks on their eyes. But, Optimus nodded to reassure them. So, all of them threw their weapons away. Arcee deactivated the Apex Armour and rolled it beside the scattered weapons. Aria and Helios glanced at each other before throwing away their weapons as well.

Three innocent and young lives weren't worth it, they realized.

"Now, if you please, the Omega Keys," Megatron requested, "One at a time."

Knock Out stepped forward with Miko on his hand.

"You first, big boy," Knock Out requested.

Optimus nodded an approval, and by then Bulkhead stepped forward.

"If I don't get the girl, I'll make you eat this key," Bulkhead growled dangerously as he slammed the key into Knock Out's waiting hand.

"You're welcome," Knock Out scoffed as he handed Miko over.

"Get scrapped!" Miko snarled at Knock Out as Bulkhead carried her away.

Next, it was Soundwave with Raf. Bumblebee stepped forward to exchange.

_You're going to pay for this!_ Bumblebee warned before exchanging the key for his charge, _You okay, buddy? _

It was Jack's turn, but then Megatron had another proposal.

"If this human was important enough to entrust with the Matrix of Leadership, he's worth two Omega Keys," Megatron explained.

Optimus didn't say anything. He simply nodded to the two remain Autobots. Having no other choice, Arcee and Smokescreen stepped forward with their Keys.

"No tricks," Starscream promised before aiming his missiles at them, but then opened his palms, "The keys, if you please…"

Arcee and Smokescreen slammed the Keys to Starscream's hands. Satisified, Starscream left Jack with the Autobots. Jack just glanced worriedly to Arcee, but Arcee just smiled to the boy.

Aria and Helios saw the situation, then the sea-green femme formed a plan. She reached for Heart of Prima,"Time for Fortress..." she muttered.

But Helios held her back, "No, with the children in range, we won't know how far the damage will be...!" he warned.

Suddenly, another portal opened. Vehicons stormed from the portal and surrounded the Autobots with their weapons aimed. The Autobots protectively stood in front of the children.

* * *

Back on Autobot base, Ratchet's monitor beeped again.

"Optimus? Were you successful?" Ratchet asked hopefully as he answered an incoming transmission.

"_Ratchet?_ It's June Darby. How are you?" June asked from her position in the garage.

"_I'm, er…busy, Ms. Darby. Expecting urgent news from the Autobots._"

"Oh. Is Jack with them?" June inquired.

"_No. Why?_"

"I haven't seen him all day. And he isn't returning my calls," June explained.

"I will have Jack contact you the moment I hear from him," Ratchet promised, "_Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to keep the commlinks clear._"

*beep beep beep*

"Ratchet?! Hello?!" June called, then sighed in defeat.

* * *

"Now bear witness as a new age dawns on Cybertron," Megatron declared.

The Decepticons inserted four Omega Keys to the Omega Lock. The lock glowed brightly, then a hologram emerged from it. It was the map of Cybertron.

"BEHOLD THE AGE OF THE DECEPTICONS!" Megatron roared joyfully.

A button was pressed, and a bright beam shot out of blue circular plate. Megatron aimed it to a ruined building nearby. And the beam restored the ruin into brand new building.

"By the AllSpark!" Optimus gasped.

_WHOA _Bumblebee whirred.

"Whoa!" Jack, Miko and Raf gaped.

"Instant home makeover," Miko remarked.

"Shiny," Knock Out observed happily.

"You have what you want, Megatron. This conflict is between Autobots and Decepticons. Allow me to return the humans to Earth," Optimus requested.

"Oh, I wouldn't recommend it. They'll be far more safer here," Megatron objected.

"What do you mean?!" Aria yelled out.

"Is the Space Bridge locked on target?" Megatron asked to Starscream.

"Per your instructions, Lord Megatron," Starscream nodded as he bowed.

"Excellent. Why rule only one world when I can rule _two?_" Megatron muttered out loud.

A Space Bridge portal opened on top of Omega Lock. The beam shot through the green portal to wherever the Space Bridge was locked on.

"No...!" Optimus realized where the beam was going.

* * *

Back on the garage, June was still trying to contact Jack. She couldn't settle down until she could hear a news from her own son. However, a big quake shook the entire area. Gasped in surprise, June quickly ran outside to see what happened. And as she got to the outside, she dropped her cellphone.

"_Hey. It's Jack. I can't answer 'cause I'm probably out saving the world right now…_"

June stared at the blue Omega Beam, shooting far away.

* * *

"Optimus, do you read?!" Ratchet yelled as his computers went crazy, "An unknown energy spike in Earth's atmosphere is crashing all my systems! Please tell me it's related to the activation of the Omega Lock!"

"If the Omega Lock can restore Cybertron, it can do the same to Earth. Right?" Miko asked nervously.

"No," Optimus rumbled darkly. "It would cyberform Earth in favor of its new Matrix. Destroying all indigenous life in the process..."

"The organic Earth will be a metallic planet...?" Aria gasped in horror.

"Such raw power!" Megatron gushed excitedly, "What should I call my new domain? New Kaon? Or perhaps Gilded Earth?"

That last name made Optimus' optics widened in horror. Then, he heard Jack and Miko pounding on their containers, as if they wanted to get out and prevented Megatron themselves.

"NO!" Jack screamed as he pounded on the glass.

"LEAVE OUR PLANET ALONE!" Miko screamed.

"STOP IT IMMEDIATELY!" Aria rushed forward blindly, but she was held back by Smokescreen.

Seeing that scene, Optimus clenched his fist, he made up his mind. Never in his life he would sacrifice another planet full of innocent lives, a planet where his second daughter was born, no matter what the cost. So, the red Prime brought out his blade and thwarted a couple of Vehicons. He rushed and made a grab of Star Saber. More Vehicons came forward to stop him, Optimus threw them away with blue wave.

Megatron brought out his Dark Star Saber and charged forward. Both of the leaders locked their blades, but Optimus didn't want to play any game. The Prime sliced off Megatron's Prime arm, and dashed forward. A couple of drones fired at Optimus, but their blasts were thwarted aside. Starscream fired off his missiles, which was also dodged. Optimus jumped and stamped into Starscream's face.

He leapt high and struck the Omega Lock with the blade. One strike and...

"INCOMING!" Aria and Helios were quick to form force fields to shield the team.

_KABOOOOMMM_

* * *

The Omega Beam on Earth was stopped all of the sudden.

On Autobot base, Ratchet's system was finally recovered.

"Optimus, can you read?" Ratchet asked.

"_Ratchet, please open a Space Bridge._"

Without asking, Ratchet rushed to the bridge control.

* * *

The entire area of Omega Lock's location was covered in fire. Aria and Helios struggled to contain the blast, the double layered force fields were cracked, resulted by the blast. Arcee, Bulkhead, and Bumblebee held the children's container tightly. As the smoke cleared, Optimus was standing, and sheathed Star Saber back.

"Father...!" Aria dashed forward, and stared at Optimus with worried look.

Optimus didn't say anything, just give a stare to Aria, an apologetic look. Aria just sighed, and forced a smile. Soon, a Space Bridge portal opened behind them. The Autobots immediately retreated.

"I guess we should cancel the welcome home party," Knock Out remarked, only to cry out in pain as Starscream hit him hard enough to send him flying once again.

"Attend to our master! He requires medical attention!" Starscream snapped at him.

Knock Out immediately rushed to Megatron who was on his knees.

"PRIME!" Starscream growled, "HE WILL PAY FOR DOOMING CYBERTRON TO REMAIN A LIFELESS HUSK!"

Much to Starscream's shock, Megatron started to laugh evilly.

"They can run. But they can never again run home," Megatron smirked.

* * *

The Autobots were back on the base, and they placed the children's containers on the platform. Aria and Helios reverted back to their human modes, and exchanged looks. Ratchet could hardly believe on what he was seeing. All of the Autobots had this very sad and remorseful look on their faces. They didn't say anything.

"The children?!" Ratchet cried in surprise before demanding, "What happened?! …Somebody say something!"

Bulkhead finally broke the heavy silence, "Optimus destroyed the Omega Lock..."

"WHAT?!" Ratchet gasped in horror and disbelief, "YOU did…?!"

"What was necessary," Optimus cut in as he stepped forward.

"We have no time for another prolonged battle," Aria added, "Not with Earth in imminent danger."

"So you destroyed the only device in any universe that would be capable of restoring our home?!" Ratchet gasped, then he lost his power to hold up his body, "Optimus...we needed that…"

"You weren't there, doc!" Smokescreen defended, "It's not your place to second guess a battlefield decision!"

"IT MOST CERTAINLY IS!" Ratchet snapped back in anger, "THERE HAD TO BE ANOTHER WAY!"

"It wasn't that simple, Ratchet," Jack said.

"Megatron was using the Omega Lock to attack the Earth," Raf explained.

"Optimus saved our planet!" Miko completed.

"BUT WHAT ABOUT OUR PLANET?!" Ratchet cried hopelessly, "All of our struggles and Energon spilled, countless sacrifices...FOR NOTHING?!"

"Right decision or wrong, what's done is done! But we have another problem here on this world! The 'Cons just changed the rules when they put Jack, Miko and Raf into play!" Arcee stepped in.

"Dirty trick, as usual," Aria sighed.

The comm link beeped with booming voice of Fowler.

"_PRIME! __The Pentagon's preparing to go DEF-COM 1! I need to know what we're dealing with!_"

"To what do you refer, Agent Fowler?" Optimus asked as he stepped forward.

"_Maybe you should step outside and see for yourselves._"

"Ratchet, watch the children," Optimus instructed.

* * *

The Autobots used the big elevator hatch to the outside. They immediately saw the problem, a gigantic fortress tower directly in front of their base. Fowler's helicopter soon came and landed on the cliff. The black agent stepped out and demanded an explanation.

"Is that...?" Aria rumbled.

"What's that?" Fowler asked.

"Megatron has accomplished the first phase in his Cyberforming of Earth," Optimus rumbled darkly, "The construction of his fortress."

"As if he can continue the next phases, with the Omega Lock already destroyed," Helios whispered.

"In Jasper, Nevada. I don't get it. I already had the town evacuated. Why here?" Fowler asked.

_Look there!_ Bumblebee cried as he pointed to the skies.

The Nemesis was already on the could, directly above their heads.

"Because they have found our base," Aria realized.

Megatron, still arm-decapitated, was briefing his new troops of Vehicons. It would be the best chance to turn the tides of war.

"Our opportunity to revive Cybertron has been lost due to the treachery of Optimus Prime! But from our fortress of New Kaon, we will instead seize control of this world! DECEPTICONS! TRANSFORM AND RISE UP!" Megatron roared.

"I THOUGHT HE'D NEVER ASK!" Starscream cheered joyfully. Being the leader of the Seeker, he transformed and ordered his troops to follow, "COME, MY ARMADA! ATTACK! ATTACK! ATTACK!"

The formation soon opened fire to the Autobots. The Autobots did their best to thwart the Decepticons, and Insecticons. Optimus swung his Star Saber and destroyed a good portion of the armada. However, the Decepticon forces were too great since the beginning, and they were multiplying by times. Optimus knew, they couldn't fight the Cons forever.

"Autobots! INTO THE BASE!" Optimus finally instructed.

They all retreated back to the elevator hatch. Bulkhead turned around to see Fowler climbed back to his helicopter and started it.

"Fowler, what are you doing?" Bulkhead demanded.

"My job, two-ton!" Fowler answered as he put his headphone.

The helicopters soared off as the Autobots descended back to their base. Helios immediately made up his mind, as he brought out his jetpack. "Too bad I left my axe back there..." he muttered.

"Helios, what are you doing now?!" Aria asked.

"Joining the party," Helios said as he took off before the elevator hatch completely shut down.

Fowler basically didn't think he could at least go toe-to-toe with Decepticon armada. However, he wasn't a kind of man who would back down that easily. Then, he spun around to see Helios was flying aside his helicopters.

"Glad you can join the party, boy," Fowler commented.

Helios didn't say anything, he brought out his cannon and started firing at the drones. Fowler too, pressed his trigger and fired the helicopter's machine gun. They didn't know how long they could hold the Decepticons, but something had to be done.

* * *

"What's happening?!" Jack asked.

"What is going on out there?!" Ratchet demanded.

"The Decepticons have invaded Jasper," Optimus answered.

"Fowler and Helios think they can hold them off," Bulkhead added.

* * *

Fowler and Helios maneuvered into separate ways to dodge the firings of the Decepticon drones. Helios was faring much better, as he shielded himself with force field.

"You have very nice thing on your arsenal, kid," Fowler commented.

"Not that nice," Helios replied as he destroyed one drone with his blade, "Force field drains my stamina greatly, I can't hold it for long. You have some kind of emergency plan, Agent?"

"The only one I can think of. Special Agent William Fowler to Air Defense Command! I need immediate combat support!" Fowler spoke into the radio.

One blast of a drone struck his helicopter. Thankfully, the copter was made of sterner stuff, and wasn't to be shot down easily. However, Fowler soon encountered another problem, an Insecticon in front of him, and ready to fire.

"Come on, Air Defense Command," Fowler muttered as he began to pray.

Much to the Agent's relief, the Insecticon was blasted away by blue blasts from the sky.

"I'll be triple dipped," Fowler grumbled as he looked up to see who his savior was

* * *

"_Prime! Reinforcements just arrived!_"

"Agent Fowler! Your military is no match for Decepticon forces!" Optimus warned.

"So pull them back or...!" Aria added.

"_Didn't think I was gonna let Team Prime have all the fun, did ya?!_"

All of them widened their eyes as they recognized the voice.

"Ha ha! It's Jackie!" Bulkhead cheered.

"Wheeljack?!" Ratchet exclaimed in surprise.

"_Picked up a strange energy surge. Hope you don't mind the company._"

"No. It's just that after everything…well…," Ratchet trailed off.

* * *

"We're still on the same team, doc. Always will be," Wheeljack said as he maneuvered his plane. He destroyed one by one Decepticons and Insecticons who were close to the Autobot base.

* * *

"Ratchet, prepare to bridge everyone out of here," Optimus moved to next plan.

"We're abandoning the base?!" Ratchet gasped in surprise.

"The base is lost, Ratchet. Wheeljack, Helios and Agent Fowler could only buy enough time for us to escape," Optimus said, "Bumblebee and Rafael, you are to depart first."

"You're splitting us up?!" Raf gasped in disbelief.

"Shouldn't we stick together?" Jack asked worriedly.

"All for one and one for all?" Miko piped in weakly.

"We must disperse to avoid capture, until we can regroup and launch a counterattack, survival is our only priority now," Optimus proclaimed.

"Yeah, if we're all captured, it's over for good..." Aria muttered sadly, then she reached her comm link.

* * *

"_Adrian, I'm afraid we don't have any other choice but to abandon base!"_ Aria contacted Helios, "_And, we have to go separate ways to avoid capture." __  
_

Who was slicing one Decepticon's flyer into two and flew away.

"Then, be done with it quickly," Helios replied as he moved to his next target.

"_Wait...I want you to come back here and...!"_

"I'll hold them off until all of you can make it out," Helios cut in.

* * *

"You're not expecting me to abandon you all alone, are you...?" Aria asked nervously.

"_I'm expecting you to work swiftly. You'll do your part when I'll do mine_," Helios said, "_I'm expecting you to come out of this safely." _

"Then, be sure that you will too!" Aria replied.

"_I will_," Helios replied, "Trust me, Aria."

"...Alright," Aria sighed in defeat, but she couldn't object with her partner anymore, "We will meet up soon after this. Promise me, Adrian."

* * *

Fowler was proved to be quite capable pilot as he made two Insecticons crashed to each other. But, the Decepticon armada was proved too much to be handled.

"Be damned I'll be outflown by a bunch of toasters is the day I'll…"

Fowler stopped in mid-sentence as he saw the Nemesis hovered on top of Autobot base. Megatron was standing on the spire, looking down at the Autobot base. Of course, he only had one thing in mind, destroy the base together with all the Autobots inside.

* * *

Bumblebee and Raf were driving out of GroundBridge, Bulkhead and Arcee were on standby with their passengers. Ratchet immediately changed the coordinates of the GroundBridge.

"We haven't much time," Optimus pressed.

Miko stared at Jack from Bulkhead's interior. Jack also returned the stare, both of them weren't sure if they could make it successfully. Then, as the GroundBridge already changed coordinates, Bulkhead pressed the pedal and raced to the portal.

"Be careful, guys!" Aria yelled to the Wrecker duo, then stared at Jack and Arcee, "You're next, right?"

Jack merely nodded, when Arcee cocked her headlight to the side.

"Aria, remember the rule no. 1 of the true warrior?" Arcee asked.

"Not to give up without a good fight," Aria finished, and gave a reassuring smile, "We'll talk about it when we regroup later, coach. It's a promise."

"Yeah," Arcee nodded slightly.

Then, as the coordinates changed again, Arcee and Jack raced through the portal.

"Aria, Smokescreen, prepare for departure," Optimus said.

* * *

When the desperate situation grew even more desperate, June was driving mid-way to the Autobot base. She clearly needed to know of what was happening, since the scale of event was too enormous. She saw the Nemesis hovered atop of Autobot base, and the nurse had very bad feeling. Then, a Con flier flew behind her car and opened fire.

June desperately tried to avoid it, then she was forced to stop after some maneuvering. The drone landed in front of her, and walked closer, much to the woman's horror. June honked her car, trying to get some help, as the drone aimed his blaster to her car. And that was when Fowler came into sight with the red car.

"JUNE?!"

Fowler was quick to kill the drone before the drone could shoot June. The flier dropped dead on the car's front glass. June immediately climbed out of her car, and saw Fowler's helicopter landed. She made a survival run to it.

Meanwhile, Wheeljack had his own trouble as Starscream was pursuing him from behind.

"You're scrap!"

With that being said, the Seeker fired a couple of missiles to the Jackhammer. Wheeljack's radar quickly alerted him of upcoming danger. He quickly maneuvered his ship to avoid it, but the missiles kept chasing him. And finally, the missiles scored a direct hit to Jackhammer. Flaming and smoking, the ship swiftly descended to the ground.

"And that's how you wreck a Wrecker!" Starscream shouted victoriously, "And, you will be next!"

Starscream quickly approached Helios who was flying around. Helios was rather startled by the speeding jet, and couldn't avoid collision. The White mech struggled to keep airborne, Starscream was hovering in front of him.

"Greetings, White Decepticon," Starscream cackled.

"The same from me, Starscream, former Second in Command," Helios replied sarcastically.

"I _am_ 2nd in command right now, puny boy!" Starscream yelled.

"What happened to Dreadwing? I thought he held the position?" the vermillion boy asked.

"Not anymore, as in fact, he would be missed," Starscream trailed.

Helios widened his eyes, as he knew of what it meant. Dreadwing was no more. Helios already expected it, giving that Dreadwing vowed he wasn't loyal to Decepticon anymore. However, he never imagined it would happen for real, to Dreadwing nonetheless. Helios clenched his fist in anger.

"What, you are having sympathy as fellow traitor as Dreadwing?!" the Seeker jet mocked.

"What, you are thinking that you're in high place right now, stinky stiletto-heeled scrap metal?!" Helios returned the mock.

He had never been too close with Dreadwing. The White boy didn't know why he felt so angry. However, after knowing Dreadwing's demise, Helios felt like he couldn't let it slide.

* * *

"Father, I'm not leaving you!" Aria objected to her father.

"My dear, there is no time for argument," Optimus spoke with harsh tone. He had never shouted to his daughter, however, the situation was desperate, "Smokescreen, take care of her."

Smokescreen nodded dutifully to his leader, then turned to face Aria. Aria just avoid Smokescreen's gaze, and shot a glare to Optimus. She made it clear that she wouldn't budge. Optimus knew that his daughter was a stubborn one, so he knelt down.

"I would find you as soon as I finish here," Optimus promised with soft voice.

"...Is that a promise?" Aria asked nervously.

"...As much as I want to," Optimus trailed off with sad tone, "I have broken one promise to you. Forgive me, my dear."

Aria knew Optimus was referring to his promise of restoring Cybertron. With the Omega Lock had been destroyed, the promise might just stay promise forever. As much as she wanted the promise to come true, Aria had never clung that tightly to the promise.

"You haven't broken anything, father. But, you'll be very sorry if you don't make it out alive!" Aria cried out.

* * *

"You're cocky like that crazy daughter of Prime, I see..." Starscream trailed, "Are all White Cybertronian as cocky as you two? Really remind me of that mouthful Cliffjumper, whom I shut down forever."

"Yeah, I've heard that from the crazy daughter you're talking about."

"I also have heard from Lord Megatron that White Cybertronians are personal guards of Primes. The ones who would give their sparks to protect the line of Primes. Say, boy, after what Optimus Prime had done to Cybertron, our home planet, do you still want to serve that treachery mech, the reincarnation of Holy Saint?!" Starscream mocked.

"Oh, if I were you, I wouldn't worry too much about that. We're the guardians of Primes, alright. A Prime's wish is our mission. Which mean, should Optimus fail, we are to ensure that it would succeed," Helios explained with firm tone, "Besides, I'm not that fond of that metallic planet."

"That's right, you are not originated of Cybertron. You are originated from this dirty planet, and being fused with our kind. Just like Aria," Starscream trailed.

"Yeah, I was merged with one red sparkling," the boy replied, "The one whom you kicked aside and murdered inside your ship."

"Oh, you mean that pest? So that's why you look so similar," Starscream said.

"Didn't know you were that low to kill a little kid. That sparkling was from your race, right?"

"I remind you again, I am the boss, the second highest of course, right now and in the past. Nobody would dare to question my action," Starscream boasted, "Besides, who cares of a puny little sparkling, whose name or creators I did not acknowledge?"

"So, you don't happen to know, about Helios' parents...?"

"...Pardon me?" Starscream was startled.

"Well, that was the name of the sparkling, which I currently have," Helios paused, "_Helios__,_ that is."

"Now, where did I hear that name again...?" Starscream muttered out loud.

* * *

"We don't have much time, little princess," Smokescreen said as he picked up the ponytail and ran to the GroundBridge. He saluted to his leader before leaving.

"You hear me, big Prime!" Aria cried out desperately, "You promise me that you will make it! You HEAR ME?!"

Smokescreen transformed, and with Aria inside him, he raced off the portal. Aria pressed her face and hands to the back window. She couldn't hold her tears when Optimus and the base disappeared from sight. Nothing would guarantee that they could regroup alive later.

"What about you?" Ratchet asked Optimus.

"I will ensure that the Decepticons do not follow," Optimus said.

"I…never imagined it would end like this."

Ratchet transformed and raced through the portal. Optimus watched as the last of his team disappeared.

"Neither did I, old friend," he rumbled sadly.

But Optimus knew he had one more job to do. He turned to the GroundBridge portal. He had to keep all of his team, and his daughter, as safest as possible. Though, it would mean that he had to break another promise to Aria.

* * *

A laser cannon was deployed from below the Nemesis, aimed directly to the Autobot base. It began charging up, much to Fowler and June's horror. They knew what would happen next, and they really hoped it wouldn't happen.

Helios was confused, but he finally noticed the cannon that was aimed to the Autobot base. Helios immediately changed his priority, and flew past Starscream. Starscream knew of what Helios was about to do.

"Oh, no you don't!" Starscream took the distraction, and shot a direct score to Helios' back.

"AGH!" the vermillion boy cried in pain as his back and jetpack was damaged. Slowly, he descended and crashed to the ground below. Starscream immediately soared and returned to the warship.

* * *

As the cannon charged up, Optimus grabbed Star Saber, and raised it above the GroundBridge control panel. He knew that by doing it, he would certainly break his another promise. However, the safety of Aria and his teammate was Optimus' top priority. He swung the blade down...

* * *

And it was when the cannon finally fired, and destroyed the entire cliff with one shot.

_KABOOOOMMM_

"NO!" June gasped in horror.

Within seconds, the Autobot base was reduced to debris and flame.

Both June and Fowler knew that the Autobots and the children had survived so many bad things. They couldn't be sure if the team could survive _that._

Helios also watched in horror as the base was aflame. His spark skipped a beat, he was alerted by the Heart that Optimus was in grave danger. As Helios was about to stand up, the Decepticon drones were quick to surround him, from ground and from the sky.

Helios knew he was out of choice, with his back and jetpack damaged, and completely cornered by the enemies. He quickly grabbed his GroundBridge remote control. If he was captured there, it would be over. Besides, he already promised Aria that he would make it safely.

"Sorry, but I cannot play with you as my wings are damaged," Helios said to the drones as he opened a portal to his own station. Because his GroundBridge was human-sized, Helios had to change to boy mode.

The Decepticons quickly lunged forward to grab the boy. The Spanish boy prepared to jump to the small portal, but casted a last glance to the flaming Autobot base, and the Nemesis, and the Decepticon fortress.

"I will certainly be back, so don't move from there," he muttered, and made a jump to the small GroundBridge.

The drones knew they couldn't get through the portal. One drone fired his blaster to it, and one shot managed to get through before the GroundBridge portal shut off.

* * *

Megatron and Starscream landed in middle of inferno. The Autobot base was already gone, and they stood before a big Autobot insignia on the ground. They knew, they were winning.

"This is the place alright," Starscream proclaimed as he glanced at the insignia.

"This _was _the place," Megatron corrected knowingly, smirk on his face.

"United we stand. Divided, they fall," Starscream sneered.

Megatron and Starscream were expecting to get their winning trophy, in form of the Autobots' corpses. But unbeknownst to them, Optimus' arm was sticking out of the rubble. Nothing could tell if the Prime was still alive or not.


	40. The Breaking End

_"I count him braver who overcomes his desires than him who conquers his enemies, for the hardest victory is over self"_

_Aristotle_

* * *

Optimus had never known of what destiny already packed for him. He had been through so many things, and he already experienced things that he never expected before. Optimus knew that joyous moment came with heartbreaking moment, he knew it better than anybody else.

Before Optimus Prime, Orion Pax was merely an ordinary data clerk, who dreamt of a change in Cybertron's corrupted political system. He had never imagined that he would become a Prime. However, he lost his best friend, Megatronus, who became his archenemy, as the price.

Optimus and Elita were inseparable, and it was their dream to start a family life. It was becoming a reality when Elita gave birth to Arianna. From that moment, Optimus already dreamt of happy family life with their newborn daughter.

However, the war broke in, and everything turned upside down. The peaceful Cybertron was turned into bloody war zone. What was more, the war already went for very long time, as if it would never end. All Cybertronians, Autobots or Decepticons, soldiers or citizens, were becoming victims willingly or unwillingly. Everybody lost everything they had, Optimus was included.

Optimus still remembered of that day. The unit led by Elita was ambushed, and everybody perished. Elita, barely made it out. Optimus arrived at the location, to have his woman struggled to stay alive.

"Optimus..." Elita whispered weakly. Energon spilled out from her body, and her mouth. She was in brink of death.

"Hang on Elita,," Optimus was beyond worried. He proceeded to scoop his beloved woman, getting her to the medical bay as soon as possible.

"Optimus...listen..." Elita choked out some Energon as she tried to speak.

"Speak no more, my dear. I would get you to the medical team..." Optimus stopped, but Elita merely tugged on his arm.

"No...no need to..." the purple-armored femme muttered, "I...could not make it..."

"No...please..." Optimus whispered in horror.

"Even if this kind of thing happened...I'm more than glad...to live a long time with you..." Elita smiled weakly, "You are the last Prime...you have to fight for the rest of Cybertron, and for our daughter. Take care of our daughter...do not let Arianna...live her life in times of war..."

He lost his sparkmate in the wage of war. Peaceful, family happy life was becoming merely imagination. Optimus knew that such casualty couldn't be avoided in war. All he could do, was fighting to keep everything he still had. But in the end, Arianna too was taken from him.

No matter how much he prayed for it, Optimus was crumbled for real once he learnt about Arianna's death on Earth.

Cybertronians had pretty long lifespan, for anybody's record. In such long lifespan, every moment of Optimus' life came and went like a flash. His past was like happening in blink of an eye. However, the pain would last for eternity. The pain of losing his family, that was. Arianna's demise was his biggest regret.

Optimus already went over his loss of Elita. Both of them already spent so many joyous moments, and Optimus didn't regret anything of it. However, Arianna was a different story. She was gone, even before Optimus had the chance to spent at least one happy moment with her. Even more, Optimus already promised to end the war as soon as possible.

Arianna's death was so unexpected, but Optimus could barely call it tragic. Because by that, his second daughter was born.

Aria, the girl that Arianna named and loved so much. Aria was the one who accompanied Arianna at her last moment, and witnessed the latter's death. The first time Optimus set his eyes on the girl, he placed Aria on his spark already. Somehow, that girl was special, not because she was experimented with Optimus' dead daughter. With Aria came to his life, Optimus got his second chance.

"I love you, father," Aria stated. And that was the beginning of it.

Optimus' favorite past time was watching the stars with Aria, only two of them.

"Arianna is up there, right father?" Aria asked as she rested her head on Optimus' thigh.

"Right, with Elita, in very happy and peaceful place," Optimus replied. If there was one thing relieving the Prime, it was the fact that Arianna was in better place in afterlife. She deserved to rest in peace for eternity.

"Father, I want to ask something..." Aria trailed as she raised her head a bit.

"What is it?"

"Am I...the right daughter for you?" the ponytail asked nervously.

Optimus widened his eyes. Even until that day, there was still a barrier between him and Aria. Optimus already saw Aria as his irreplaceable daughter, but Aria still titled herself as Optimus' adoptive daughter. Because of that, Aria still kept some distances. And that fact, hurt Optimus' feeling a little.

"You are, my dear," Optimus merely replied with a sad look on his eyes.

"Now, no offense. I love you, because you're my only father..." Aria sighed, "But, I can't help it. If it weren't for the fact that Arianna was..."

"Aria, stop it," Optimus cut in.

"...Sorry..." the ponytail apologized sadly.

"You filled the hole in my spark. If it weren't by you, my spark would eventually die," the Prime said, "As such, I need you, Aria. And I love you, my dear daughter."

"I love you too. I don't care whether we're connected or not," Aria smiled, "After Arianna was gone, I can only have the 'original' feeling with you."

Optimus was aware, Aria hadn't gotten over the feeling of being fake. As they were family now, Optimus would try his best to make Aria happy. That included freeing his daughter from her past nightmare. That was easier said than done, Aria's tragic past would be embedded in her spark forever.

That somehow, made Optimus think that he didn't do his fatherly duty well.

"I...never imagined it would end like this," Ratchet said before he took off.

"Neither did I, old friend," Optimus said, before he turned around to face the GroundBridge panel. He slowly reached his Star Saber, to destroy the portal panel.

Even if he would mess his second chance, even if he and Aria were still somewhat strangers, Optimus wanted to keep his family safe. No matter what the cost. If he ever lost Aria, it was the end for him. Aria was his last daughter, the Prime loved the half Autobot to death. Even if Aria still saw him as adoptive father, as a mere guardian.

"FATHER!"

But Optimus finally realized that it wasn't true. Without realizing it, he and Aria already formed a very strong bond, more than just family bond. Optimus spun around, much to his shock, Aria was back there.

"Father...!" Aria's face was wet. She clearly didn't want to abandon her father.

Which gladdened Optimus a bit. It would mean that his love for Aria wasn't useless. He watched as Aria ran to his direction by her fleshy legs. But before Optimus could say something to her, he felt a rumble atop. Optimus immediately knew that the danger was close. With his fatherly instinct, the Prime dove forward to shield his daughter with his body.

"Aria!" he yelled out.

And a second later...

_KABOOOMMMM_

__"United we stand. Divided they fall!" Starscream remarked.

Optimus was in life-death situation, with his left arm sticking out of the rubble. His right hand clutched the unconscious Aria close to his chassis. He managed to protect her. He didn't repeat the same mistake with Arianna.

Even if it were the end, Optimus wouldn't regret it.

* * *

To be continued in sequel...after I figured out Beast Hunters :D


End file.
